I think zucchini is an amazing vegetable.  You can create so many different recipes that you can have something different every week.  I however have a very picky eater.  We have many discussions over the topic of potatoes not counting as a vegetable and raisins not counting as a fruit.  You can see I have a challenge on my hands but I do love a good challenge.  He will however eat my Zucchini Fritters.  I have a couple of secrets for your meat eaters of the family who you want to get a few more vegetables into their bodies.

Shhhh, If you make these a little smaller they make great finger food for a party like the Super Bowl this weekend.  Sneak in a few vegetables amongst the chicken wings.   You can even serve them with a little something to dollop on top like a sour cream either made from dairy or cashews like I used for the Best Ever French Onion Dip or the Pumpkin Dip.

These are also great to make the same time you are making my Quinoa and Vegetable Stuffed Zucchini.  You can use the extra insides of the zucchini that you’ve removed to stuff them.

So the first secret is a little bacon or pancetta.  I’ll crisp some up in a pan as a topping for the fritters and then cook the fritters using a little of the pancetta oil created.  I realize this is like cheating but he’s eating mostly vegetables since I only cook up 1 or two slices of the meat.

The second secret is if you also have someone who you have a hard time getting to eat vegetables, don’t shred the zucchini like is often done, finely chop it.  I use the food processor.

If you want to keep them completely vegetarian you obviously want to skip the whole pancetta step.  You can use coconut oil and keep the healthy fats.  Either way I don’t use very much oil in the pan as these are not deep fried, just cooked more like a pancake.

Ingredients:

1 organic zucchini whatever leftover zucchini fillings you have from making the stuffed zucchini.  If you have none add in another zucchini

1/3 large onion chopped

1 tsp Majestic Garlic or 1 clove garlic

1 organic egg

1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour or your favorite flour

1/8 cup tapioca flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Celtic Sea Salt to taste

Coconut oil or pancetta oil

Directions:

Cut the ends of the zucchini off and discard.

Cut the zucchini into 4 pieces.

Toss them along with the other zucchini, onion and garlic into the food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

In a separate bowl beat the egg.

Mix in the contents of the food processor into the bowl and add the flour and seasonings.

Using a tablespoon from your drawer, spoon this batter into your heated pan with either the pancetta oil or coconut oil and cook over medium high heat until browned.  Turn it over gently and finish cooking.

Remove from pan, sprinkle with a little salt if you like and serve.   You can also top them with the crisp pancetta if you like.

Zucchini is typically a summer vegetable but of course you can buy it year round.  I typically only cook these in the summer but I was really missing my zucchini.  It’s also one of the few vegetables I can make into fritters and my son will eat them.  I’ll share that recipe tomorrow in case you want to make some for the big game.  They are great to pick up and eat and you can sneak a vegetable in amongst the chicken wings and guacamole. (Gluten-Free Zucchini Fritters)

Previously I’ve shared my recipe for Easy Pork Stuffed Zucchini but I wanted to give you my vegetarian version.  It’s grain free, egg free and dairy free so I guess it’s vegan then.  This will be a great meal to pull out when you are not eating meat no matter if that is how you eat every meal or just once in awhile.

When I make these I like to cook the stuffing ingredients first and mix that all together.  You can even use this stuffing mix for mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, onions or other vegetables you like to stuff.  Have fun with these and mix up what you add to the stuffing or what you stuff.

Ingredients:

3 small zucchini about 6-8 inched in length

1/2 onion diced

1 tsp Majestic Cayenne Garlic or 2 cloves garlic minced and 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper

8 oz mushrooms chopped

large handful of spinach chopped

1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa

Red sauce, marinara or pasta sauce

Celtic Sea Salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp organic coconut or olive oil

Direction:

Cut the ends off of the zucchini, cut it in half and then scoop out the seeds with something like a melon baller, a teaspoon or anything you can find to scrape out the seeds.

Use about one third to half of what you just scooped out and chop that up.  The rest can go towards your Zucchini Fritters.

Preheat a frying pan and saute the onions in a little coconut oil.  When they start to brown add in the garlic or Majestic Garlic and let combine.  Set aside in a mixing bowl.

Saute the mushrooms and after they brown add in the chopped spinach and just combine.  Add this mixture into your mixing bowl.

Add in the cooked quinoa to your mixing bowl and mix well.

This is a good time to give the stuffing a taste and see if it needs any salt or pepper and make an adjustment.

Put a nice layer of sauce in the bottom of the baking pan so it comes up a little on the side but not very much.  I’d say 1/4 – 1/2  inch.

Lay the empty zucchini into the sauce and then add the stuffing into them.

Cover tightly with foil and place in preheated oven to 375 degrees.  Let it cook for 30-45 minutes or until the zucchini is tender.

Notes:  If you are a fan of cheese you can sprinkle a little on top and heat without the foil on top.

If you are a fan of meat sprinkle a little crispy pancetta on top when serving.

Where are you on the spectrum of vegetables?  I’m not talking color, we’ll get to that later.  What I mean is do you eat a lot of vegetables with every meal or do you get in some french fries or popcorn and you consider yourself having eaten vegetables?  You see it’s a very broad spectrum.

I started at the french fries and popcorn end around 10 years ago.  That first year I added in vegetables that made sense to me like green beans, a romaine salad and things like that.  And you know that was great.  It was a big step to even talk about vegetables in our house.  We just didn’t do it and my husband consistently told me he didn’t really like the few vegetables I did so I didn’t push.

I remember being told that if I wanted to be healthier I would need to eat more vegetables.  I really wanted to be healthier so figuring out how to incorporate those vegetables was an important step to take.  Now I’m sure some of you will think adding in green beans or a salad to a meal is nothing.  You may already do that and more.  But if I was ever going to get to the point of eating more vegetables I had to start somewhere.  You need that first step to get the the second step and so on.

Now along the great spectrum of eating vegetables I’ve come a long way over time, but  I still have a ways to go.  I do not eat vegetables consistently with every meal every day.  I get two out of three and I know I can do better.  But the more that I want that to be my goal, the more I find ways to incorporate or try new vegetables and plan them into my menu.

Here is an example.  Breakfast can be tricky sometimes to get away from just traditional breakfast potatoes.  It really depends on how much time I give myself and what ingredients I have on hand but more and more vegetables are showing up at breakfast.  Lately I’m totally stuck on Melissa’s (Gluten Free For Good) Heavy Metal Skillet Breakfast.  It tastes amazing and I can use whatever vegetables I have on hand plus the poached eggs on top.  It cooks in the oven so I can leave the kitchen and grab a quick shower or finish up a blog post for the first part of the recipe and then all hands on deck for the egg.  It’s a delicious way to eat vegetables in the morning.

So where are you on the spectrum of vegetables?  Don’t fret about it and don’t be ashamed of where you are.  I think too often we can be made to feel bad from others, or even ourselves and that is just not helpful.

Harrods Food Court - Which of these will you try next?

So celebrate where you are on the spectrum, set your sights on where you would like to be, and then take the next step.  Don’t jump 3 or 5 steps ahead.  That usually ends up like a game of Chutes and Ladders where you jump ahead and then slide way back.

Also, grab yourself a partner.  Enlist the help of your family as often they can be our crutch of giving up when they disagree.  But remember, we are all allowed to be at our own point.  So if one of your family members is behind you, don’t punish them for it.  Encourage them and then expose them to some new ideas of how to eat more vegetables.  If you’re looking for a partner, grab a health coach.

Find ways to add more vegetables into something you make on a regular basis.  For instance last night I made a different version of a chicken pot pie.  It was delicious and I’ll have to share the recipe.  But typically when I make something along those lines I get instructions from my husband on what vegetables not to add in.  Since he is working to move further along his spectrum of vegetables and he was out when I was cooking, I added a few more things besides carrots and onions.  I added green beans, peas, parsnips and broccoli florets along with the stalks (peel them first).  I didn’t use a crust of dough on top either, I just used a thinly sliced potato.  I then get the phrase I love to hear at the dinner table, better than I thought.

This same wonderful man has also gone from a 3-1 ratio of fruits to vegetables in his morning smoothies to a 2-1 or 1-1 depending on the morning.  That is a huge shift from a man who wouldn’t come near a green smoothie with a 10 foot pole.  It was gradual but it happened.

It didn’t happen over night and one shouldn’t expect to go from eating only french fries to eating 90% vegetables in a week either.  Take your time, add them in gradually and have fun.  By all means have lots of fun.  Try a new vegetable a week just to see how it tastes.  Sneak it into something that you find safe.  Poke around your favorite food blogs and cookbooks for ideas.  But keep this in mind.

Very important:  pay very close attention to the quality of your vegetable choices.

Yes this is the key ingredient for moving along that spectrum and one I hope you have heard before.  Find fresh, organic and local produce if you can.  Buy the best you can afford.  Pay attention to the Dirty Dozen list. Download it here if you don’t have it.  If you can’t afford organic potatoes or celery than buy a different vegetable.  They hold on to the chemicals around them and sprayed onto them.  But if you’re looking to try asparagus and you can’t get your hands on organic, go for local and fresh since this vegetable is on the Clean 15 list.  If you can’t remember the list, and for some reason I always forget a few, print out the pocket sized list or grab their free Apps so you can have it with you when you shop.

Once you start getting the high quality vegetables onto your fork with something new you are trying, well it will make all the difference in the world.   Your taste buds will be dancing up a storm.  Don’t forget the colors of the vegetable spectrum either.  Look at the color of vegetables you currently eat.  Are you missing one?  Are they more white and yellow?  Do you need some purple or orange into your spectrum?  Dr. Mark Hyman shares a list of foods by color to help you choose in his recent post, Eat Your Medicine.

What if it’s hard to get fresh vegetables where you live so you only eat canned vegetables?  Your next step might be to look for frozen vegetables.  Often if places sell canned they also sell frozen.  At some point you’ll be ready to take the next step to fresh and if you can’t find them you might decide to grow some yourself.  And then you may get your neighbors involved and then the next thing you know your community is growing their own vegetables and you have changed more than just your own eating habits.  Who knows where this will take you.  Nowhere unless you take your next step.

To help you think about what you might eat, here are a few recipe ideas from fellow gluten-free bloggers that you might want to try:  Celiacs In the House, Alisa Cooks,  Tasty Eats at Home, Cook It Allergy Free, and Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom, Daily Dietribe, Real Sustenance, Silvana’s Kitchen, gluten free easily  just to name a few.

Now I know there are a ton more ways to get vegetables into your day.  What are your tips for moving along the spectrum of vegetables?  Please share so we can have a wonderful list that just might help the person sitting across the table from you or your co-worker that you have lunch with.  Let’s help each other.

Hummus is the one thing that 3 out of 4 of people in my home will eat.  It’s vegetarian, a protein, as flavorful as you want and can be changed up in many ways and used with so many meals.  The two favorites at our house is this Garlic Hummus and my Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.  I’m experimenting to see what else I can toss in there to change up the flavor.  I just got a jar of peppadews and I’m thinking of giving that a go.  What about you?  What flavor hummus do you like?  Kalamata Olive, Sun Dried Tomato, Artichoke or Extra Spicy?

Now I’m sure you want to know my secret ingredient.  It’s the one thing that is the difference between a passable hummus and a really good  lick the bowl hummus.  It’s all in the tahini sauce.  I’ve tried 5 or 6 different brands, some organic and some not.  No one will even eat my hummus unless I use the Joyva Sesame Tahini.  It really does make all the difference in the world.  You can find this in most grocery stores but just in case you can’t I’ve shared my affiliate link.

If you want to make this dish for pennies instead of dollars, start with dried chick peas.  You can soak them all day and then toss them into the crockpot on low to cook overnight.  Drain the next morning and put in the refrigerator to cool.  They will be ready to mix up into the most amazing hummus and you will have saved a bundle.  Oh and you won’t have to worry about spending extra for a BPA free can to get BPA free chickpeas.

What you can serve with your hummus is also a long list of possibilities and all of these are gluten free of course.  Red, yellow or orange bell pepper strips, carrots, cucumbers, celery, radish, tomatoes, rice crackers, falafel, gluten free pita, chicken or lamb skewers.

What a great spread you could make with this for your Super Bowl party.  Mix us different flavors and have a large assortment of great things to dip into the hummus.  Keep in mind dipping your finger adds no additional calories, just keep that to your own plate.

Here is a tip from an ex-caterer.  You can make a big splash at your party with your serving containers.  For parties I like to put the hummus into scooped out red cabbage, green cabbage, peppers, and tomatoes.  People will think you had an expensive caterer create your spread but you can just smile and said you did it all!

Ingredients:

15 oz garbanzo beans BPA free can or cardboard container

2-3 TB Joyva Sesame Tahini

1 lemon juiced

1 tsp cumin

3 cloves of garlic or 3 tsp majestic garlic original or 1 whole bulb or roasted garlic

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/4 – 1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 – 1 tsp sea salt

1/3- 1/2 cup organic olive oil

Zaatar

Organic Olive Oil for the top

Directions:

Add to your food processor the chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic, salt and peppers.

Turn on the processor and pour the oil in from the top.  You’ll want a creamy consistency.

Stop and taste and then adjust your seasonings and add more oil if you want it a little more creamy.

When serving drizzle the top with olive oil or create a crater in the center and add the garlic there.

I like to sprinkle on the Zaatar on top.

If you want to make this into the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus add in 2 whole large roasted red peppers, no seeds.

With the new year there is a lot of talk about what the food trends will be this year.  After looking through 20 lists I have a really long list.  Everyone has their own ideas and most are different from each other.  There are however some that come up on many lists.

But really what do these so called predicted trends mean to you and me?  If you look back on the trends from 2011 you can see many of them actually came to fruition.  Well in the overall scheme of things but maybe not in your house.

So here are some trends noted for this year.  Look it over and see which ones you think will actually happen in your life.  Are there some listed here that already are part of your life?

Let’s make our own list.  Please leave me a comment on what  YOUR food trends will be in 2012.

Salt way beyond table salt, more sea salts, grey, black, Himalayan

Gluten Free foods

Artisan Chocolates

Seaweed chips

Food Trucks

Peruvian, Moroccan, Jewish, Korean, Cuban and Global foods

Coconut Oil and Water

Comfort Foods

Specialty Meats

Exotic Fish

Frugality

Healthy

Exotic Herbs and Spices

Quinoa

Beans

Bitter Greens

Cooking with friends

DIY cooking kits

Funky Pizza

What’s on your Food Trend list for 2012?

I love a quick meal, especially one that yields leftovers to keep me stocked in chicken legs for the month.  This is my version of that old classic shake and bake.  All you do is toss the ingredients into a plastic bag, shake it up and then bake.

You can of course use this recipe with any cut of chicken but the drumsticks are a really good value and they are very flavorful.  They also make great party foods because it comes with it’s own handle!  You can serve them for the big game.

You can also change up the spices to change the taste.  You can make it a little more spicy by adding in some smoked paprika instead of the sweet paprika and bump up the cayenne pepper a little.  For another option you can serve it with different dipping sauces.

Ingredients:

1-2 cups of garbanzo bean flour

1/4 cup sweet paprika

1/2 tsp red and black pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp granulated garlic

1 tsp toasted onion powder

1 tsp Celtic Sea Salt

large package of organic chicken legs

Directions:

Add all the ingredients into the bag, shake and then place onto a foil or parchment paper lined large cookie sheet.  Place into a 375 degree preheated oven.  Cook for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees fahrenheit.

Serve with your favorite vegetables like Roasted Pee Wee Potatoes with Mushrooms and Green Beans.

This is one of those foods that once you make it, it will become a highly requested regular on your menu.  If you take it or make it for your Super Bowl party it will be all they talk about.   It’s hard to describe but the garlic is not overpowering and it totally lures you in and then makes you keep eating.

The secret ingredient for this pizza is the Majestic Garlic.  I found this at the farmers market in California in October when hanging out with some amazing gals.  I was cooking that night so I made a version of this pizza but instead of chicken we had fresh shrimp.  I cooked them up in a little of the leftover bacon grease.  Just a little adds so much flavor to the shrimp.

This pizza was destined for chicken since that is what I had on hand.  It was already cooked so I just warmed it up with some cooked bacon.  If you are cooking the chicken or shrimp for the pizza and you have a little bacon, pancetta, pepperoni or salami around toss it in together.  Oh and just a dab of the bacon grease if you have that.

As for the Majestic Garlic paste you will want to get your hands on some of this.  As you know garlic has been found to have many healthful properties.  It is said to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal activity and to help prevent heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and cancer.  Oh and rumor has it that it keeps away vampires.

The garlic pastes they sell come in many different flavors.  For this pizza I used the Sun-dried Tomato - Jalapeño.  For the Sausage and Bean Bake I shared in my newsletter, The WHOLE-istic Life, I used the Basil.  There is also Cilantro, Cayenne, Curry, Cucumber – Mint, Dill, Jalapeño and Original.  I’ve had almost every one and I’ve loved them all.  You can view their presentation to learn more about their products.  Once you taste it you’ll know why they are a 6 time winner of America’s Best Food Award.

I must admit when I first tried these and brought them home with me from California I tried for days to recreate the taste.  Well after tons of garlic and no success I called them and begged them to ship me some.  That was when I learned they were just about to start doing just that.  It took a couple of months to set up their system and my first order just arrived.

If you are a fan of hummus they make that also and it is amazing.  I’m thinking they must use some of their original paste in the hummus.  For those interested the products are raw and vegan so if you wanted to build a raw pizza this would be an ideal ingredient.

I hope you will give this recipe a try and please remember if you are not using this garlic paste it will in no way whatsoever taste anything like this recipe.  If you go online and order please tell them I sent you.  I do not receive any money from them and they have not given me any product for free or asked me to endorse them.  I just am in total love with this product.

Majestic Garlic Chicken and Vegetable Pizza Recipe

Ingredients:

Pizza crust (I use Udi’s)

2 TB Majestic Garlic Sun Dried Tomato & Jalapeño flavor

1 small organic onion chopped

1 organic bell pepper chopped

1 organic zucchini rough chopped

2 portobello mushrooms sliced (can use your favorite mushroom)

1 organic chicken breast cooked (if uncooked cook it up in a little coconut oil and a dab of bacon grease)

2 slices organic uncured bacon cooked

Directions:

First you’ll want to prep all of your toppings.  I like to cook up the vegetables so they start to soften and caramelize.  I only cook one ingredient at a time so there is room in the pan to brown.  Also I keep my vegetables separate so my vegetarian son can eat too.  Once that is done you can create your pizza.

Spread the garlic paste onto the pizza shell.  Then I topped it with all of the vegetables.

Lastly the  meats if you are having any.  I like to warm up the bacon with the chicken prior to putting it onto the pizza.

Bake at a preheated 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes and serve.

If you want to keep it totally vegetarian leave off any meats or seafood.  If you want to keep it vegan you’ll need to find a base that has no eggs or honey in it either which can be done.

This is one dip you will want to make sure you have an abundance of items to dip into it. My favorites are potato chips, cassava chips, celery, carrots, peppers, cucumbers and my fingers.  This is great to also serve as a garnish for chicken or pork and is great as a spread for a wrap.  My favorite however is to eat it watching the Super Bowl game next month.

If you’re a long time subscriber to my newsletter you’ll recognize it from a very old newsletter.  I always like to share some recipes in the newsletter before I share them here.  Just another reason to subscribe. (link to the right)

Today I’m also going to update this recipe to keep it soy free too.  I do this by using Cashew Cream instead of the soy cream cheese and sour cream.  It works perfect and still highly addictive.

Best Ever Gluten and Dairy Free French Onion Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

8 oz Cream Cheese (Tofutti gfdf)**

4 oz Sour Cream (Tofutti gfdf)**

2-3 large onions sliced thin

1 cup organic chicken stock *

1 tsp garlic powder

1-2 tsp Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1-2 tsp Butter (Earth Balance Buttery Spread Soy Free)

Celtic Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Cut your onions in half and then into thin slices. A V-slicer or mandoline is great for this but if you don’t have those make sure your knife is very sharp.  Heat your pan on medium high. Heat up the oil and butter until it starts to ripple. Add in your onions and toss them around so they all separate and are coated with the oils. I like to use tongs to do this instead of a spoon or spatula. It gives me more control over the onions.

Keep an eye on them and as they start to brown mix them up so every onion has it’s chance to brown on the bottom of your pan. You’ll want them to brown deeply but not burn. Once they start to brown you can turn the heat level down so they continue to brown.

If you are using a non-stick pan instead of stainless it will not work as good, but it can still be done. This whole process can take 15-30 minutes depending on your pan and how many onions you have. Once you are happy with how brown they are, add in the chicken stock and reduce the liquid so it’s almost all gone.

Once this is done remove your onions and let them cool to room temperature.

In your food processor mix the two cheeses and the garlic powder. Scrape this out into a mixing bowl. Once the onions have cooled add them to the processor and chop them. You decide how small you want the onions to be. I don’t like big pieces of onion in my dip but you might.  If using cashew cream cheese instead mix in the chopped onions and garlic powder in a bowl.

Once these are processed add them to the cheese mixture and combine well. Give it a taste test and see if you want to add in any salt and pepper. Be warned, that taste testing can be dangerous to your waistline if you taste the whole bowl.

This makes a good size bowl of dip. Once your party is over, what can you do with the leftovers besides just dipping?

It makes an amazing sauce for your Swedish meatballs and noodles, a topping for a grilled chicken breast and a great addition to your brown gravy.

Notes: 

You can always substitute regular dairy for those who eat it.

* To keep this vegetarian use vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock.

** To keep this soy free use Cashew Cream Cheese

1. Soak the cashews in water for 3 hours. If you are short on time you can use hot water and soak for 20 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Drain the water and add cashews, lemon juice, salt and water to very fast blender like a VitaMix (affiliate link).
3. Start off slow and increase in speed as the cashews begin to break down. Add in more water if needed. Blend until creamy. This took me 10 minutes going slow until the very end where I put the Vitamix on high.
4. Let this cashew cream set up in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to a couple of days.

What could be better on a cold winter morning but hanging out with your family eating a nice warm breakfast that was fast and easy to make?  Maybe if you’re getting presents that day too!  Here is something that can help with the warm fast and easy breakfast.  The rest is up to you.

This is one of those recipes I have a hard time calling a recipe.  To me it’s more like a method.  It is easily made gluten free, dairy free, soy free and even vegetarian all in one muffin tin.  Having said that my math minded son figured out with all of the possibilities I’ve shared here, you could make 392 different versions and I didn’t even give you all the possible choices!

Easy Egg Cups with 392 Possibilities

First decide what you want as the base layer.  You can use thin slices of ham, turkey, prosciutto,cooked slices of bacon,  cooked sausage, cooked chorizo, smoked salmon, small corn tortilla, hash browns, flattened slice of gluten-free bread, spinach, kale, tomatoes, empty baked potato skin or anything else you can come up with to include.

Next you need an egg for each cup.

Then you can add in some cheese if you like even if it’s Daiya dairy, gluten and soy free.  If you eat dairy try parmesan, marscarpone, manchego, cheddar, mozzarella, provolone, or even cream cheese.

If your base layer is more on the neutral side like a tortilla, bread, potato and the like, you probably want to add in some spices.  Think about the flavors you enjoy.  Do you want Italian spices, Mexican, French or maybe even Spanish.  Just keep in mind these are small cups and dried herbs are more intense in flavor than fresh.

Now that you have layered your favorites into the greased muffin tins or ramekins, place into a 375 degree pre-heated oven and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until the whites are cooked.  Mine took 22 minutes.

When they are done use a straight spatula to losen around the edges and place onto a plate to serve immediately.  Garnish your plate with a little fruit and you have a great meal that looks amazing and really all you did was layer a few items into a muffin tin.

Below will be Ham and Cheese or Tortilla Chili Egg Cups but please do not be limited by this.  Use some of the possibilities mentioned above and have fun!

One idea to engage the troops is to place the items out on the counter and let people put what they want into their pre-greased cup or muffin tin.  Put it into the oven while you open presents on Christmas morning and when you’re done breakfast will be served.  Keep in mind this is not just an idea for Christmas morning but for any morning, afternoon or evening.

I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season no mater what you’re celebrating and a Happy New Year!  I’m taking a little time off to spend with my family and I hope you get to do the same.  If you’ve missed any of my newsletters, including the last one with a big announcement, visit my WHOLE-istic Life newsletter page.    If you are looking for some gift giving ideas check out my Favorites page.

 Have a wonderful holiday season, stay safe and please cook good food for the people you love.

You are going to love this.  You could be one of two winners of the Simple Salad prize pack just for sharing your Simple Salad Recipes.  The Marzetti company is giving away a prize packs valued at $50 each to two of my lucky readers.

What a great gift for you or someone you care about for the holidays!

You’ll receive this beautiful wooden salad bowl with wooden salad tongs that are super cool.  They are flat when closed but flip them around and they become tongs.  Love it.  Plus the bowl will have five free product coupons for Marzetti Simply Dressed Salad Dressings.

This giveaway is now closed.

Congratulations to the winners Julie and Maria V!

You will be contacted by Marzetti and they will ship your prizes directly to you.

Thank you to everyone who shared some great salad recipes!

So here is all you have to do to be entered:

1. Share your Simple Salad Recipe either in the comments section or using the linky.  Either way will work.  Any salad!

2.  Share this giveaway on twitter and then leave a comment here so you’ll have another entry.

3.  Share this giveaway on Facebook and then leave a comment here so you’ll have another entry.

4.  Sign up for my newsletter and leave a comment here so you’ll have another entry.

It’s just that Simple!

Don’t delay because this event closes on Friday December 16th at NOON EST.  Winners will be chosen using random.org and will be notified on Friday.  Also this giveaway is limited to US residents only.

Now if you are looking for a little inspiration you can check out my Individual Stacked Salad Recipes and see how I used these dressings to make a big hit at my Thanksgiving table.  If you have questions about the Marzetti Simply Dressed Salad Dressings you can read through my review to see which ones I liked the most.

Disclaimer:  “I was one of six bloggers selected by T. Marzetti Company to be a Simply Dressed Ambassador. They compensated for my time however, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.”

Simply Dressed Meatballs are one of those fast, easy and tasty bites you can create that will help simplify your daily meal routine.  Make a batch and eat some now then freeze the leftovers for a fast meal later.

I love to take meals and salads and make them into burgers or meatballs or the other way around, so they are fast and easy to make.  One of my favorite summer salads is a spinach salad with strawberries and a poppyseed dressing.  This is my twist on that salad.  These meatballs use Marzetti Simply Dressed Strawberry Poppyseed Salad Dressing along with spinach and almonds mixed into the meatballs.

The mixture of ground pork and turkey makes for a very flavorful and juicy meatball.  Pairing it with the dressing adds a sweetness that makes these pop.  You can serve them on a bed of spinach as shown or with noodles, rice, or quinoa.  You can also serve them on a roll for a sandwich with your favorite toppings.  If you just want to have fun they make a great finger foods as an appetizer at a dinner party, tailgating or your New Year’s Eve party!  I think one of my favorite fast meals with these Simply Dressed Meatballs was for breakfast with scrambled eggs, sautéed spinach and garlic.

Depending on what you want these gems to look like and how much hands on time you have, will determine how you cook them.  You can cook them in the oven and they will stay a little lighter.  If you cook them in a pan on the stovetop they will brown up and the dressing will caramelize on the outside more.  We liked them both ways.

If you’ve read some of my other mixed meat recipes like my Chicken Meatballs or my Recipe for Meatballs With Heart you’ll know I like to sneak some of the good stuff inside the meatballs.  With these I’ve added the carrot and spinach into the mix but feel free to add in more.  You might like to include some chia seeds, other leafy green vegetables and my favorite is to add golden beets.  So have fun and get creative.  You’ll notice this recipe is also egg free.  I find that adding arrowroot to a meat mixture keeps it together.  I like Penzey’s brand the best.

Stay tuned to next week when I have a fun event where you share your Simple Salad Recipe ideas for a chance to win a prize pack from Marzetti Salad Dressings.

Disclaimer:  “I was one of six bloggers selected by T. Marzetti Company to be a Simply Dressed Ambassador. They compensated for my time however, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.”

I’ve been saving this recipe for Gluten and Dairy Free Toffee  just for Home for the Holidays…Gluten-Free Style.  This is sure to be an amazing daily blogging event taking place from Monday, November 28 through Friday, December 23 and is being hosted by Shirley at gluten free easily. There are 25 bloggers sharing their stories and recipes for the holidays.  There is also a ginormous prize bin that will have you picking your chin up off the floor with almost 100 prizes.  There are  books … including cookbooks, resource books; iPhone apps; gluten-free magazine subscriptions; tools to help you know if a product is safe you to eat; and much more.  For all the information see the schedule and prizes at the end of this post and visit the gfe announcement.

These 3 books have been awarded and this giveaway is closed.  However there is a new drawing every day so make sure you check out the schedule so you know where to show up!

Today we will have 3 prizes to enter to win on this blog.  You have until 10 pm EST on Wednesday November 30th to enter to win one of these three prizes:

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook from Elana’s Pantry.

Gluten-Free in 5 Minutes by Robin Ryberg

The Steamy Kitchen by Jaden Hair (not a 100% gf cookbook but many naturally or adaptable recipes)

Winners will be announced weekly on gfe.  Comments on this blog post will close at 10 pm on Wednesday November 30th.

To be entered to win, leave a comment on this blog post.

If you would like a few more entries or chances to win, here are some ways.  Just remember if you do any of these leave a comment here letting me know each one you did.  Don’t leave one comment with a summary.  Each comment here counts as an entry to win today’s prizes and to be entered into the drawing for the grand prizes.  You can:

Sign up for my newsletter

Sign up to receive my recipes by email

Like The WHOLE Gang on Facebook

Share this recipe on Pinterest  Use the Pin it button at top of post.

Sign up for recipes from gluten free easily

Like gfe on Facebook

TWEET this event using buttons at top.

Like this post on Facebook using buttons at top.

Google+ it using buttons at top.

Share it on LinkedIn using buttons at top.

Now remember there are tons of prizes and even multiple copies so if you don’t win here there will be a new giveaway every day until December 23rd.  Oh and here is the best part.  Every daily entry makes you eligible for the final giveaway, so the more blogs you visit and more entries you offer, the more your odds of winning the grand prize, second prize, or third prize will increase.  Winners of the daily giveaways will be announced weekly on gluten free easily, along with the final announcement sharing the final week’s winners as well as the grand prize, second place, and third place winners.

Grand Prize, Second Prize, and Third Prize (remember … all of your entries throughout this event are eligible for this final giveaway) 

Grand Prize–A top-of–the-line Vitamix—woohoooo! Specifically, Vitamix is offering its Super Healthy Lifestyle package, which includes a 5200 machine and a 32 oz. dry grains container for grinding your own, gluten-free flours. (affiliate link) Note that on Cyber Monday (11/28), Vitamix will be offering this package at $499 as part of its holiday special; that’s $50 off the normal price. The winner will also receive a copy of the e-book, Eat Fresh and D-Tox Your Life. This e-book is the perfect companion for this amazing Vitamix; read more here.  

Second Prize—A $150 shopping spree at Free From Gluten(freefromgluten.com). Free From Gluten is the largest gluten-free store offering everything from basic products like gluten-free flours and xanthan gum to those niceties like Enjoy Life semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (hey, some would say those are essentials!) and special products like baguettes and ice cream cones. Take a moment to check out their site … I’ll wait … (tick, tick, tick, tick) … now wouldn’t it be fun to spend $150 at their site? 

Third Prize—Caveman Cookies giveaway package ($89 value). 

One large bag of each of the current three flavors , Original, Tropical, and Alpine($28.95 value) plus one large bag of the soon-to-be released new flavor, Rainforest ($9.95 value; will be shipped as soon as available; anticipated end of Dec); 1 large variety pack ($32.50 value), and 1 t-shirt ($17.50 value; your size, your color). 

Gluten and Dairy Free Toffee

Oh you’re going to like this one for sure but be warned you’ll be seeking the Toffee Anonymous support group.  Once you start eating this it’s hard to stop.  I made a batch and my family ate it all in just a couple of days.  I then made a batch and shared it with a group of gluten free gals and they ate it all in one day!  This will make great gifts for your family, friends, neighbors and even teachers.

Ever since I was a kid I can remember making food gifts for family, neighbors, teachers and other service workers to thank them.  We also would make extra to have around for guests that visited.  My mother and I would make pressed cookies that we would decorate with colored sugar.  I’d make chocolate chip cookies and she would make her famous brownies or 1,2,3,4 Cake.  We would hand them out and everyone was always happy to get a food gift.  The best gift of all was getting to be in the kitchen with my mom.   There is no greater gift that you can give your children than to bring them into the kitchen and teach them how to cook and bake for themselves and others.

I hope you will enjoy making this toffee as much as you do eating it and sharing it.  Grab some family members to help you in the kitchen and make a list of who you want to share this toffee with for the holidays.

If you are already a toffee fan than you know this recipe follows the basics set out some time ago and I’m not sure who to give the credit to.  Toffee using crackers is an old trick that I’ve put a spin on by using gluten free crackers and keeping it dairy free.

You may have noticed that my recipe has a little button Save Recipe.  This is a cool new system to keep track of the recipes you like in your own personal recipe box.  It will also make a shopping list from the recipes you save.  There are only a few of these on my site but I promise to start working on adding it to past recipes.  No more trying to remember where you saw that recipe you liked.  Enjoy!

If you are interested in the type of crackers I used they were from Natural Nectar and can be purchased at Whole Foods or through my affiliate link to Amazon where they sell them as a 12 pack, great if you are making gifts.

I wish you all the happiest of days during this holiday season.

Home for the Holidays Gluten-Free Style has begun and now it’s your turn to jump in.  Good luck and enjoy all of these amazing bloggers and fantastic prizes.

Here’s a complete listing of all the excellent bloggers participating followed by the list of prizes being given away.

Are  you still looking for something amazing to share with guests on Thanksgiving that is gluten and dairy free?  I was playing in the kitchen today and updated an old recipe of mine.  This pumpkin dip is a combination of pumpkin puree and cashew cream cheese.  Serve it with your favorite Ginger Snap Cookies, gluten and dairy free at my house.  This will keep them company while you are tinkering in the kitchen with the turkey.

Thank you for sharing my gluten and dairy free world.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I love a good tip to make my time in the kitchen to be more productive, easier and tastier.  A few years ago I created a weekend series of kitchen tips.  Here I’ve compiled all of those tips in one place.  Some are quick videos, some include things you can download and use in your kitchen.  If you count there are only 18 listed and I promised 20.  So here are your first two tips:

1. When the seasons change so does the foods available and usually what we eat.  This also requires different kitchen tools and equipment.  Take this time now that we have moved well into fall and sort through your kitchen.   Clear out your pantry, countertops, refrigerator tops, kitchen drawers and cabinets.  Wherever you keep your tools and equipment and get rid of anything you have not used in years.  It’s doubtful you will.  Make sure things like roasting pans and soup pots are close by so you can roast up those root vegetables or toss them into the soup pot.

2. This is also the time to make sure you have everything you need for your holiday cooking.  Don’t wait until Thanksgiving morning.  Are you trying a new recipe that will require a new tool?  If so go looking for it now.  What tools make your job easier for Thanksgiving?

If you have a question or area you would like a good kitchen tip about, please ask and if I don’t know I’ll find someone who does!

Weekend Kitchen Tip- More Gluten Free Blogs

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Flour and Pie Crusts

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Writing Tip for Food Bloggers

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Wine Glasses

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Storing Gluten Free Flours

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Stock or Broth

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Save Your Back

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Organizing a Kitchen

Weekend Kitchen Tip – How to Cook Your Thanksgiving Meal Without Going Crazy

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Gluten Free Easily

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Ginger

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Getting Garlic Off Your Hands

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Frozen Spinach

Weekend Kitchen Tip – FoodBlogga on Tomatoes

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Extra Basil

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Deglazing with Claire Vanderhoof and Calphalon

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Crockpot Cooking

Weekend Kitchen Tip – Bag It

Do you have guests with different food allergies or intolerances in your family?  Maybe they just don’t like the same ingredients in their salad?  It’s Thanksgiving and they’re all coming to your house for dinner, so what’s a host to do?

Individual Stacked Salads, of course!

The beauty of these salads is you can make them the day before, cover and store them in the refrigerator and bring the salads out as you sit down to your meal.  How great is that?!?  Salads are always the last thing you’re thinking about and they can sometimes get left off until dinner is almost over and then you jump up and run to get them.  Oh wait, that’s me.  You can also make these salads the same day and let those who want to help in the kitchen keep busy.  You can even have everyone make their own if they are feeling creative.  Simply set out the ingredients, including your dressings, and let them build their own.

Let your creativity out and build your favorite salads in a glass.  Add in what you like, remove what you don’t like or can’t eat.  Mix and match ingredients and you could have a different salad almost everyday, not just holidays.

My salads here are made using the Simply Dressed Salad Dressings from Marzetti.  I had a lot of fun creating these salads and having the dressings all ready to go was great.  These are sweet and tasty dressings that are gluten free and some are dairy free too.  You can read my recent review of their products.

Serve your salads on a plate.  When ready to eat, place the plate on top of the salad, hold tight, and then flip it over.  Slowly and gently pull the glass up and your salad will be completely dressed on your plate.  This is not something I would let your younger  or older guests attempt on their own.  You can even do this yourself and serve them on the plate ready to eat.

Here is the formula to follow for your Individual Stacked Salads.

First you want to prepare all of the ingredients you’ll layer in the glasses.  When you assemble them you’ll want everything at your fingertips.  I LOVE my Spiral Vegetable Slicer (affiliate link).  It makes any vegetable look appealing even to those who say they don’t like vegetables.  

Grab a short tumbler glass with straight sides. I bought my glasses at Pier One Imports.  Add your dressing first, about 1 – 2 TB.  I used 2 TB, the serving size on the Simply Dressed Salad Dressing labels.

The next layer is something that can sit in the dressing without absorbing it all or making it wilt if you are making these the day before.  Tomatoes, onions, olives, peppers, carrots and such.

Then layer away.  Think about how the layers will look next to each other.  Color and textures are key.

Make sure you lightly press these layers into place so you can keep it compact.  This will also help if you want to have the salad hold this shape when you flip it.  I don’t care either way, stacked on the plate or scattered to fill the plate, it all tastes great.

Oh and here is the best part, there is no wrong way to layer these salads.

You can also use this method with just about any salad recipe you have.  Take the list of ingredients and layer them instead of adding them to a bowl and mixing.  Here are a few salad ideas to choose from to get you started:

Chopped Salad

Pineapple, Bacon and Arugula

Vegan Slow Roasted Tomato and White Bean Salad

Grilled Jicama Bean Salad

Deadly Serious Beet and Spinach Salad

Chinese Chicken Salad

Vegan Jicama Salad

A Little Crunch of Cabbage 

Golden Beet, Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad

Arugula, Pear and Pomegranate Salad

Here are some of the stacked salads that I’ll be serving to my family:

Pictured here:

Simply Dressed Balsamic Salad Dressing with tomatoes, red onions, fennel, red peppers, spinach and beets.

Simply Dressed Ranch Salad Dressing with tomatoes, zucchini, red onions, cucumbers, mushrooms, hard boiled egg, romaine lettuce and carrots.

Simply Dressed Pomegranate Salad Dressing with tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, carrots, romaine lettuce and golden beets.

Other ideas:

Simply Dressed Champagne Salad Dressing with tomatoes, red onion, fennel, bacon, and romaine.

Simply Dressed Strawberry Poppyseed Salad Dressing with tomatoes, onions, spinach, almonds, dried cranberries and mushrooms.

Simply Dressed Caesar Salad Dressing with romaine, onions, cheese, kale, and jicama.

Simply Dressed Greek Feta Salad Dressing with tomatoes, olives, red onions, cucumber, green peppers, parsley and feta cheese.

Disclaimer:  “I was one of six bloggers selected by T. Marzetti Company to be a Simply Dressed Ambassador. They compensated me for my time, however, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.”

And now it’s your turn.  Here is your virtual salad bar.  Let me know what combinations you choose for your Individual Stacked Salads.

Leafy Greens

Vegetables

Protein

Fruit

Crunchy

Herbs and Starch

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Now you know me, I like to make just about everything myself.  However there are also products I liked to have on hand.  I have some sauces, ketchups, mustards, mayonaise and things like that.  They come in handy even though I make many of these items from scratch too.  I used to have salad dressings in my refrigerator too but I’ve not found many gluten free ones that I liked.

I had just found the Simply Dressed Salad Dressings from Marzetti literally the week before they contacted me to review their products.  I liked the fact I could read the ingredients and knew what they were.   You  can find these dressings in the refrigerated sections because they are not full of preservatives that keep dressings shelf stable.  I told them I was just about to try these products and if I liked them I would share my experience.  I warned them I’m very opinionated and tell it like I see it and they still agreed.

So here is the disclaimer:  “I was one of six bloggers selected by T. Marzetti Company to be a Simply Dressed Ambassador. They compensated for my time however, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.”

Many of these dressings are gluten free but not all of them so you need to do a little research.  When looking at the products online, look for this marking:  Gluten Free

Or you can use this list I’ve created here for their Simply Dressed line.  I would recommend to the company that they just go ahead and mark the jars gluten free so when shopping we know which ones to buy.  It was however great to be able to get so much information on their website.  Some of their dressings have dairy in them so I’ve not tasted those dressings.  If you have please let me know about your experience.

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When life gets too crazy or just too overwhelming, I cook.  I love to cook and spending a day in the kitchen really relaxes me.  Of course we then end up with tons of cooked food.  Funny these need to cook days are not scheduled and don’t happen to coincide with lots of people being at my house to eat all of this food.

Yesterday was one of those days.  I worked on creating some new recipes with new products.  I made some of my favorite comfort foods and I also worked on key ingredients needed for our Thanksgiving meal.

When I was at the grocery I picked up some turkey legs and wings, a beautiful chuck roast that was on sale, Sockeye Salmon and Lemon Sole both on sale, a long package of chicken drumsticks also on sale and two large pork butts which I asked the butcher to run through the grinder once.  As you can see I do love the sales.

Our refrigerators are now full of the following dishes and if there are any you would like me to share the recipe for,  I am more than happy to.

So yesterday I woke up early and decided I was going to cook.  I started with roasting the turkey parts at 450 degrees for 25 minutes along with onions and garlic.  When that was done I put the roasting pan on my stove, added in cold filtered water, fresh parsley and thyme sprigs, course Celtic Sea Salt, fresh cracked peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves.  Oh and the secret ingredient is apple cider vinegar with the mother.  I brought it to a boil, turned it down to simmer and covered it with foil.  This cooked from 7 am until 10pm.  It needs to cook for many hours and you can do this in a crockpot too.  I strained the stock, put it into all of those jars I save from salsas, sauces, sauerkraut and pickles.  I labeled it turkey stock and let it cool in the refrigerator.  This morning it went into the freezer and it will come back out for my Thanksgiving stuffing and gravy.  Making stock with bones is extremely good for you.  Read more here on all the benefits.

While the oven was still hot from the turkey, I made my version of shake and bake chicken legs.  These are super easy and very tasty.  They freeze up great and are perfect for the lunch box or meal at home.

I then got busy with the ground pork.  I had tons of it so I made my Pancetta Sage Sausage and froze it in portions for Thanksgiving stuffing.  I may use some of it around Christmas for Chipolatas too.  Then I made my Chorizo and froze that in useable portions.

I also made amazing little meatballs with some of the ground pork and ground turkey and a special ingredient that was given to me.  I’ll be posting this recipe soon.  You’ll want to make these for company.

With the last of the ground pork I made a sauce in the crockpot that I’ll use over pasta.  I sautéed shallots and shiitake mushrooms and then browned the pork.  Tossed in some fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.  I added in  some pork stock that I had saved when cooking off a previous pork butt.  Always save the stock these meats make.

I had also purchased fish so I really needed to cook that.  The salmon I broiled with olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper.  I served it with green beans with a little butter (Earth Balance soy free) and lemon squeezed on top.  Simple and yum!

It was requested that the lemon sole filets be breaded and fried.  This is what a cast iron skillet was made to do!  So I tossed the fish in a gluten free flour, dipped it into an egg and almond milk wash, and then rolled it in the good almond flour from Honeyville.  Fried it in a mix of coconut oil and olive oil and sprinkled it with a little salt.  So much better than those fish sticks in a box.  Oh and my secret is to sprinkle some garlic powder into the flour and onion powder and sea salt into the almond flour.  Shhh, don’t tell anyone.  Seasoning the first layer onto the protein and then the last layer or I should say the first layer you taste, is key to that saying, it has depth of flavor.

I happen to have more than one crockpot which comes in really handy.  I have different sizes and use them at least once a week.  I made a dish in the crockpot that I had made in the oven at the beach.  It was cannellini beans with sausage and a special garlic paste.  I have to say I liked the oven method the best but for pure comfort foods this dish is wonderful.  I’ll work on sharing this recipe too as it can feed a ton of people with not a lot of money or effort.

Last but not least is my Oven Roasted Beef Stew – one of my favorite comfort foods.  I made a huge pot full in my wonderful Le Creuset round French oven.  I’ll portion this out in my soup mugs and freeze it for those cold days when I really want a bowl of beef stew.  This is another one of those dishes that I think tastes the best cooked in the oven although the crockpot is a good second option.  Again one of the keys is that bone broth that not only tastes great but is really good for you.

When it was all said and done, I had created 8 dishes yesterday.   I then settled down with a nice glass of wine to see who was kicked off The Next Iron Chef.

So, what do you do to relax?

What recipes would you like me to share?

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Potato ricer

With Thanksgiving coming in just three short weeks, I’ve started working on my attack plan.  I do this every year.  Read here my plan from a couple of years ago.  I also have a blank planner tool you can also download and use yourself.  It says Thanksgiving Planner 2009 but you can just cross that off and write in 2011 if it bothers you.

Oh and before I forget if you are looking for my list of gluten and dairy free Thanksgiving recipes, go to my new Recipe page (see menu bar at the top of any page) where you’ll find those and a listing of many more of the over 400 recipes on this blog.  We’re adding more every day.

So what tools do you need around to make your Thanksgiving day easier?  I tossed that question up on Facebook and got some great answers.

Thanksgiving Tools to Make the Job Easier

Kim from Cook It Allergy Free listed a potato ricer, my Roasting Pan, my Baster, and my pretty casserole dishes!

Nooshin from For the Love of Food said a foot massager- for after standing up on my feet cooking all day!

Wendy from Celiacs in the House said  I bought some of those big turkey lifting forks and have used them for roasted chickens all year. They take away the danger and thrills of dropping those birds when lifting with tongs and forks or whatever we have on hand to transfer from pan to platter.

These are all great ideas. Let me add a few of my own.

A great butcher who will Spatchcock my turkey for me and then a big jelly roll pan to lay it flat on and cook it in 70 minutes!

A cooking thermometer that lets me know when that pretty bird is done cooking.

A very sharp knife to carve up the cooked bird which is so easy when you spatchcock it.

My trusty container of Kitchen Basics Turkey Stock to add to the pan drippings for a delicious gravy.

I too must have a potato ricer as it makes the most amazing mashed potatoes.

My double ovens so I can have the pies and stuffing cooking while the turkey roasts.

Tripple crockpot server to keep side dishes warm while I work on some of the others so dinner is not cold in spots.

People (especially those shown here)  to eat all of this food, a fire in the fireplace and the TV on all 3 NFL football games!  Pin It

my two boys and my parents

One cold January, 20+ bloggers came together for 31 days to share 31 nourishing and detoxifying smoothie, juice, and soup recipes. The blogosphere buzzed with great new ways of upping the intake of fruit and vegetables to start the year off right.  I tried many of those recipes and let me tell you they are good!

Gfree Mom’s January D-tox event was so well received that these 20+ bloggers decided to write and publish an e-cookbook—capturing these fantastic recipes, tips and tricks in one place.

And so without further ado, we announce the release of Eat Fresh and D-Tox Your Life: A Collection of Smoothies, Juices, Soups and Tips for the Whole Family. Not only will this book provide you with inspiration to increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, but it also benefits others. All proceeds from this e-book go directly to MitoAction.

MitoAction and Their Mission.

MitoAction is a Boston-based nonprofit helping children and adults with mitochondrial disease navigate the complex journey of managing the disease. MitoAction’s mission is to improve the quality of life for everyone affected by mitochondrial disease through support, education, outreach, and advocacy initiatives. You may read more about MitoAction here.

What is Mitochondrial Disease?

Mitochondrial disease is a genetic, neurodegenerative disorder that occurs when the mitochondria fail to produce enough energy for cell or organ function. More common than cystic fibrosis, mitochondrial disease can develop in both children and adults and is often misdiagnosed. Mito symptoms are varied and progressive, and can include stroke, muscle pain, extreme fatigue, and organ failure. Mitochondrial disease is related to many other conditions, including autism, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s.

Download Your e-Cookbook Today!

To download your PDF e-cookbook Eat Fresh and D-Tox Your Life and support the efforts of MitoAction, click here. In this e-cookbook you will find:

> Tips like “How to Hide Greens” & “Smoothies and the Color Wheel”
> 9 Kid-Friendly and Beginner Smoothie Recipes
> 19 “Now I’m Feeling Braver” Smoothie and Juice Recipes
> A handful of soups, Detox Tips and More!
> Personal stories from, and hyperlinks, to each blogger’s website
> $10 suggested donation. Click Here to download.

A Dedication.

This is Gwen.

Diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease, Gwen was not able to eat and had to receive IV nutrition. She has spent as much of her young life in the hospital as out, and was the recipient of a multi-organ transplant, which included a new stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas, and spleen.

Today, as always, she and her family are fighting to help her live a healthy life and allow her to do as many of the things young kids like to do as possible. Recently, Gwen was to be able to savor a bite of banana! As food bloggers, we live and breathe food, so we’d like to dedicate this book to Gwen.

Join the Effort.

If you would like to promote and sell this e-cookbook on your site, please feel free to do so. Use the content of this post freely (copy and images) and grab the badge below and link it to this url. And THANK YOU for your support!

No matter if you like Halloween or Harry Potter, you’ll love these gluten and dairy free Cauldron Cakes.  They are super easy to make and will be a big hit no matter what your age.  These are so easy I won’t be giving a recipe but directions for assembly.

Cauldron Cakes for Halloween or Harry Potter Parties

Dip the bottoms into melted chocolate (I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips) and place onto parchment paper to set.  Place 4 chips on the sheet so when you sent them down it will make it look like cauldron feet.  Sometimes those extra chips melt but that just means more chocolate.

Core out the center of the cupcakes with a spoon or one of those cool corers.

Fill the hole with icing and let it spill out the top. (I used Whole Foods)

Make the handles by melting chocolate (I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips), put it into a plastic baggie and snip the corner to make a piping bag.  Draw the handles onto parchment paper and let them harden.  I like the freezer for the fast set.  Gently push the handles into the cupcake.

Really, that’s all there is to do.  I even took the cupcake centers I pulled out to make cake pops.  I will say that the hardest part is not licking your fingers all the way through.
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

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Gluten-Free comfort food is one of my specialties and I think Mac & Cheese has to be one of my favorite comfort food meals.  Truffled Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate in comfort and taste.  I also eat dairy free so all my recipes that would typically have cheese in them, have been created without it while keeping the traditional focus of a cheesy meal.  I’ve done this with my Mac & Cheese while also keeping it soy free.

When I was making my Curried Macaroni and Cheese, I also made this Truffle Macaroni and Cheese just in case the first one didn’t work out. Well both turned out great so we had a Mac & Cheese Party.  Of course we couldn’t eat it all so let me say they make great leftovers. Just make sure to heat thoroughly. However the Curried Mac & Cheese did not freeze then reheat well over time.

While shopping for the ingredients to make the macaroni and cheese I came across white truffle oil and black truffle oil. I’ve really wanted to experiment with these for some time so I thought, why not add mushrooms to a mac and cheese with a touch of this oil. How would that taste? Well it tastes amazing. The flavor of the truffle oil fills your mouth and navel cavities with an intense but subtitle flavor. Now if you are fascinated with truffles too, you’ll want to read David Lebovitz’s posts on Truffle Hunting and Black Truffle Extravaganza.

As I was wandering the market for mushrooms, they really didn’t have many to choose from that day so I choose cremini and oyster. I was hoping to find some shiitake mushrooms (great for your immune system, cardiovascular system, source of iron, B vitamins and fiber) but the two I used worked great. Now if they only had some truffles, then I would have been in hog heaven.

Making macaroni and cheese is a basic recipe with a bechamel sauce, cheese, macaroni and for me an assortment of flavors to combine to take it from plain mac & cheese to a wonderful meal.

This is one of my favorite fall recipes for a gluten and dairy free comfort food meal.  It’s easy to make since I use the crockpot.  It’s also a meal that is not expensive since leg quarters are usually a better deal.  You can always use a whole chicken cut into pieces if you prefer.

Ever since I saw the movie Julie and Julia I’ve been reading through Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There are so many wonderful classic master recipes that are delicious but, many contain gluten and dairy. Julia loves butter. There are also many recipes that are time and labor intensive and they taste amazing. So many of us are driving all around to sports games for our kids and mettings here and there and we’re just always on the go.  I however still want to eat a delicious meal that tastes like I spent hours making it, but it has to fit into my schedule and I’m guessing you do to.

In cooking these dishes I had time earlier in the day to prepare. I knew we would want to eat almost as soon as we got home from my hectic day.   I also knew that it would be late and I’d be tired. With this schedule I prepared the chicken and cooked it in my crockpot during the day. I also cooked the Noodles with Mushrooms right then, covered it and placed it into the refrigerator. All I would need to do when it was time to eat was reheat in the microwave.

Let me tell you the depth of flavor in this dish was amazing. I never missed all of the butter the original recipe called for or the gluten filled flour. I did change a few other things around for this dish too. The original recipe had onions and mushrooms with the chicken and a suggestion of rice or buttered noodles as the side. I just moved the mushrooms to hang out with the noodles. Julia also suggests for an additional vegetable try buttered peas or asparagus tips. Both sound good to me.

This recipe made 5-6 servings so you know what I did. I put the leftovers immediately into the freezer. This time however I placed it into containers as a meal with both the Chicken Fricassee and Noodles with Mushrooms together, topped with the sauce. Now all I have to do is pull it out, reheat and I’ll have an amazing dinner in 6 minutes. How cool is that!

Oh and by the way, this meal was super cheap to make. Chicken leg quarters are usually below $1 per pound and go on sale a lot. Next time they do, grab a large package and put it into the freezer until you’re ready to use them. Or better yet try this recipe right away and freezer the leftovers. You can also make this dish with a roasting chicken but Julia suggests never using a younger chicken such as a broiler. The flesh is so soft and tender that it will dry out and get stringy. I love her tips!

Chicken Fricassee with Noodles and Mushrooms Recipe

Ingredients:

5-6 organic Chicken Leg Quarters

2 organic onions, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

4 cups gluten free chicken stock, heated

1 cup white wine

1-2 tsp thyme

1-2 tsp parsley

1-2 bay leaves

Sea Salt & Pepper

Sorghum Flour

Corn Starch

Arrowroot Slurry – large tsp of arrowroot mixed with cold water, 2-1 ratio

Gluten-Free Noodles with Mushrooms

8.8 ounce bag of Tagliatelle Noodles by Glutano or your favorite

12 Cremini Mushrooms

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread- Soy Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free

Chicken Fricassee awaiting stock

Directions:

Start off by prepping your vegetables. Slice your onions, peel and slice the carrots and wipe off the mushrooms with a damp cloth and slice them. Before you can put everything into the crockpot you need to brown the meat and saute the vegetables. My crockpot insert is a non-stick pan but if yours is enamel you need to use another pan. You also should make your flour mixture on a plate to have ready for your chicken. I used a ratio of 4 to 1 of sorghum flour to corn starch. Mix in your salt and pepper too.

Heat your pan and oil on medium high, add in the onions. When they start to brown take 1/3 out and reserve for the chicken dish. Add in the mushrooms to the pan and let them brown. These mushrooms and onions will be paired with the noodles. After the mushrooms brown salt and pepper to taste and add 1/2 tsp each of parsley and thyme. If you salt your mushrooms when you first put them into the pan they will release their liquid and not brown.

Remove the onions and mushrooms to the reheating/serving dish for your noodles. Next saute your carrots, then remove and add to the onions that will go into the crockpot with your chicken.

Now it’s time to brown the skin of the chicken. Make sure you have oil in your pan and that your chicken is dry. If it’s wet you will steam it instead of browning it. Brown the chicken on all sides. I did mine in batches. As each piece was done, and this took approximately 3-5 minutes per side, I pulled them out and placed them on a plate of the flour mixture. You will want to dust each side of the chicken with this mixture.

After you have done that with each piece of chicken you need to put the chicken back into that pan and cook the flour on the chicken for just a few minutes. At this point you can place your chicken into the crockpot. Add in the reserved onion, carrots and the wine.

Pour some of your heated chicken stock into the pan where you were browning the chicken and cooking the vegetables. You will want to get all of that flavor off of the pan to go into the crockpot with your chicken. Now pour that chicken stock into the crockpot along with the remaining stock. You want the liquid to cover 3/4 of the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with 1 tsp each thyme and parsley and add a bay leaf to the stock.

Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

After that was set I quickly boiled the noodles in filtered water, drained them, tossed them with a little Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread and the mushroom and onions. Since I was not eating this until dinner it went right into the refrigerator.

When your chicken is done, the hardest part I found was getting it out of the crockpot with the leg still attached to the thigh. It was so tender and juicy that some separated. I put the chicken onto a platter and covered it with foil until I was done with the sauce.

Left behind in your crockpot is the most amazing sauce. All you need to do is strain it over a sauce pot, bring it up to a boil and add in your arrowroot slurry. You can thicken it as much or as little as you like. With coating the chicken with flour and cornstarch to begin with, the stock that you strain out with not be thin, but have a little body to it. It can also have clumps of flour that probably won’t taste as good, so straining it does make a difference.

I heated the Noodles with Mushrooms in the microwave and served both that, and the Chicken Fricassee, with sauce on top. It was a wonderful meal.

This recipe was originally posted in 2009 but I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss this one so I’m sharing it again.

Chicken Fricasse with Noodles and Mushrooms

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

I grew up eating chicken croquettes and loving them.  Who wouldn’t.  Chicken, creamy, crunchy, salty with gravy. They used to serve these at HoJo’s, you know, Howard Johnsons.  Growing up outside of Philadelphia I have a lot of food memories of foods no longer cooked in many houses.  Ho Jo’s sold them and also the famous restaurant in Philly, The Dining Car.  Their croquettes were featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fierri.  However the ones I most remember were in a box from Weavers found in the freezer section of the grocery store.  It even came with a container of gravy.

Now when you look at my Gluten and Dairy Free Chicken Croquettes, and you’re familiar with this dish,  you’ll notice mine are not shaped in the traditional cone or round shape.  When making croquettes they are usually deep fried in oil.  I didn’t want to do this so I backed some and pan fried a few.  The ones I put in the pan I flattened out but the ones I put into the oven I left round.  I baked them at 425 degrees and I think I should have raised the temperature.  By the time they crisped up they had started to ooze out and flatten.  Not very pretty, but still really tasty.  I think these can be done in the oven, just at higher temperatures.

Now one more part that is a must when serving chicken croquettes is the chicken gravy, so I’ll give you that recipe too or else you’ll have naked croquettes.  They were also always served with creamy dairy free mashed potatoes.  Here I made smashed potatoes which means I don’t peel the potatoes and I use a masher instead of a ricer.

This is one of those old fashion cook all day sauces that is totally worth it and really easy to make.  It’s easily adaptable to ingredients you like or just the ones you have on hand.

If you don’t have pancetta use uncured bacon or make this vegetarian and leave it and the chicken out.  If you don’t have cooked chicken and you want meat, you can add in cooked shredded pork loin or butt, maybe Sweet Italian Sausage, ground beef or cooked shredded beef brisket, shrimp, scallops or even lobster would work.  Come to think of it so would left over turkey from Thanksgiving!  It’s really one of those dishes that is extremely adaptable.

If you want to keep this recipe totally vegetarian or vegan add in mushrooms and some sun dried tomatoes or how about some kalamata olives and roasted sweet red peppers.  What are your favorite vegetables?  Cauliflower, broccoli, or summer squash would be nice additions to a pasta dish.

You should also use whatever pasta you want.  This recipe works with penne, elbows, shells, spaghetti, tagliatelle, fusilli, pagodas or curls.  Yes those are all available in a gluten free version and many from Schar made in Italy.

The key is letting this sauce simmer during the day so you end up with deep rich flavor of past sauces you may remember as a kid.  Well at least that was my childhood.  My mom always cooked from whole ingredients.  How lucky was I getting to grow up with great food and then being taught how to cook them.  Thanks mom!

One more adaptation for this recipe.  I happened to plant a San Marzano tomato plant this year and it has been producing tons of tomatoes.  I’m not a good gardener and once I plant something I rarely do anything else.  I kind of gave it a stake but it basically growing all over the garden.  It took over most of the basil and rosemary but as long as I don’t have to spend lots of time out there and it grows, I really don’t care.  I’m excited that I even got one tomato.  If you don’t have one of these great plants growing at your home and you can’t find any in the grocery store, then you can use canned tomatoes.  You just have to make sure they are San Marzano tomatoes.  That is what makes a really favorable sauce.

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I love food magazines.  I get way too many of them but I love the photos and they inspire me to try new things.  Just like reading the many blogs that I do.  I hope you get inspired to cook something new after your visit here.   This week I received the new Saveur.  They bring dishes from all over the world to my fingertips.  This issue has an article, The Art of Soup.  I love soup.  I could eat it every day in a cup, or a bowl or one of my favorites, a soup mug.  I find it an easy way to use up bits and pieces of food I have around and also a great way to eat more vegetables.  You can also get in some great bone broth which is full of key nutrients.

My husband however has told me over and over, he does not like soup.  I should have included that in the I won’t marry you unless line.  All I said was I wouldn’t marry him unless he liked football, more specifically the NFL.    Oh well, I got lucky on everything else and he usually eats whatever I cook so I thought I would slip in some soup.

The first soup that caught my eye was this Paprika-Spiced Cauliflower Soup.  I quickly scanned the recipe which called for butter and flour for the dumplings.  I could change that up rather easily.  The hard part would be getting the cauliflower in a soup past the hubby.  The next would be to make some type of meat that could be added as a topping so I could keep it vegetarian for my oldest son but serve it in an appealing way for hubby.  I didn’t want to cook more than the soup for dinner so it had to make an impact and be filling.

Success!  I crisped up a package of pancetta because everyone in my family, with exception to said son, loves pig.  So now to work on the soup and the dumplings.  I’ve started using Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour mix.  I rarely make anything that needs any type of flour but I thought dumplings would work with this mix.  I also always have Earth Balance dairy and soy free spread here.  It makes a good substitute for butter.

When dinner time came around and a quick glance to the stove top from hubby, I received that look.  You know the one.  You know their thinking … Oh no, what is she feeding me tonight that is probably good for me but I know I won’t like…  Well I served it anyway and to everyone’s surprise it got rave reviews and eaten so fast I barely could snap a photo. So here is the recipe from Saveur with my changes which are marked with an *.  The original recipe comes from chef Andrea Németh  at the restaurant Bagolyvár in Budapest.

I love Italian Sausage with spaghetti or with peppers and onions on a crusty sub roll, browned up in a hash, in a soup or on a stick.  I just love sausage and it’s really easy to make your own and keep it gluten and dairy free.

Before I started making sausage it sounded like something that should be really complicated.  I had in mind sausage links that you see hanging in the markets.  Well those are dried sausages which do take more work.  But what I make is fresh sausage and it really can be as easy as mixing.

Now you can grind your own pork butt or to make it ever easier, you can also buy ground pork.  Just remember to ask questions about any ground meats you buy to make sure it’s just ground meats.  The easiest way to get the consistency you want is to get the butcher to grind the pork butt for you while you shop.  You can have it ground course or fine, however you like your sausage.

Did I mention it will also save you money to make your own sausage?  A pork butt ground up costs almost $2-8 per pound less than buying sausage.  This can add up.  Also when you buy sausage you really need to pay close attention to the ingredients list.  If it has more than meat and spices then you are paying for things you don’t need or want.

I like to make my own Italian sausage, sweet and hot, breakfast sausage, Chorizo, Chipolatas and my favorite Pancetta Sage Sausage that I use in my stuffing mix for Thanksgiving.

Now don’t get all crazy when you see lots of ingredients because they are just spices.  Grab them all, toss them into a bowl and then you only have a few things to mix together.

Well I shared my Chicken Meatballs Recipe with you last week and I thought just in case you missed this recipe in my newsletter, you might like the side dish I served with them.  So here are my gluten and dairy free Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon.

If you’re thinking you don’t like Brussels sprouts I challenge you to make these to give them a try.  I know you’re thinking about those over boiled sulfurous smelling vegetables you were told to eat as a kid.  However, if you cook them properly you will have a delicious sweet dish.  Trust me, have I let you down yet?

What’s so good about this recipe?

1. Anything cooked with bacon tastes great so why not?
2. They are loaded with Vitamin A and C plus healthy quantities of fiber, iron, phosphorus and potassium.

Start off with a good choice when bringing home your Brussels sprouts.  Look for firm, green, uniform sized Brussels sprouts with no browning leaves.   The smaller the sprout the sweeter and more tender they will be so if you’re taking the challenge because you think I just might be right, then go for the small ones.  Store loosely wrapped and no longer than 3 days as the longer they are around the more their flavor intensifies.  I love when I find them on a stalk and can pick them off myself.  They are in season from late August through March so go shopping now.  Let me hear how yours turn out.

I’m always looking for ways to get good food into my family, especially my teenager who is the pickiest eater I have ever met.  He’s even more picky than I was at his age and that’s saying something.  For some reason I can usually get him to eat meatballs.  I have learned to get really creative in what I incorporate into meatballs.  Earlier this year I shared my Meatballs with a Heart.

The secret to these Chicken Meatballs, they have chia seeds in them.  Chia seeds are good for many things including controlling your blood sugar.  It slows down how fast our bodies convert carbohydrates into simple sugars.  They are also rich in Omega 3′s and have more than salmon.

I served these Chicken Meatballs with Roasted Red Pepper  and Garlic Aioli Sauce (Kalyn’s Kitchen) and my Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Recipe which I shared in my newsletter.  The combination of the chicken meatballs with the sauce was really a party in your mouth.  For Kalyn’s recipe I made my own roasted red peppers because I couldn’t find any organic ones in a jar and sweet bell peppers are one of the dirty dozen. You know the foods that absorb the highest levels of pesticides and if you can pick organic for anything, pick it for those listed on the Dirty Dozen.  Jar peppers work great but I would still recommend organic.

Can you name all of the Dirty Dozen?  I use my iPhone app to help me remember.

So what happens when you put over 3,500 health coaches together in one room?  There is so much energy and love that you can feel it in the air.  We put on crazy costumes, danced around, learned a lot, shared a lot and I have the video to prove it.

My weekend in New York City at the Integrative Nutrition Fall conference was amazing.  I got to meet so many great health coaches from all over the world and ranging in ages from 18-80.  How about that?  I hope when I’m 80 I’m still learning something new and teaching every day too.

Here is one of the coolest things about this conference; it was totally free.  Yep, I did not pay one penny for this conference.  Well I paid for my hotel room and train ticket but I traveled from home.  There were eight Internationally-Acclaimed speakers who inspired and informed me over the two day conference.

I rode the train up early Saturday morning and arrived at Penn Station which is only a few blocks from the Jacob Javits Center.  You would think having lived there I would have remembered that a NYC block is not the same as a block in other cities.  It’s like twice as long and not a good idea for me in my wedges.  I was really glad I had met up with fellow student Patty and we walked together.  Once we arrived we realized we were at the world’s largest health coach conference.

Both days were jam packed with great speakers.  Joshua Rosenthal, the founder of the school, started the day off with a bang.  He started this school 20 years ago and now there are students from all 50 states and over 80 countries.  It’s the world’s largest nutrition school.  I hope you will take the time to read through all the amazing people I learned from just at this conference and make sure you WATCH the video.

If you find yourself wishing you had been there feel free to contact me or the school for more information.  Mention my name and you’ll find out about a special that ends on September 29th.

by Francesco Sapienza

We then heard from Pierre Dukan who wrote The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever.  He was interesting to listen to with his thick French accent.  He shared the principles behind his wildly popular diet book.  It became a smash hit after Catherine Middleton, now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, mentioned it was the secret to her weight loss.

by Francesco Sapienza

Next we heard from Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats.  Sally shared information on the sad state of most school lunches and the bad information that underlies their policies.  Sally is a big part of the Weston A. Price Foundation.  They offer a lot of free information and when you become a member you receive an amazing quarterly publication which is full of nutritional information.  You can grab their Healthy 4 Life pdf and order their brochures on topics like soy, transfats, cholesterol, raw milk and cod liver oil from their website.

Joe Kraus made an appearance sharing his movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  You can watch the trailer on his site.  He ate nothing but green juice from fruits and vegetables for 60 days to reverse some serious health issues.

Dr. Joel Furhman joined us and talked about Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free.  He coined the phrase Nutritarian, a person who strives for more micronutrients per calorie.

Diane, Kelly, Sarah

That evening I went out with fellow student and gluten free blogger Kelly Courson from Celiac Chicks to an Italian restaurant she recommended.  Pala Pizza on the Lower East Side has great gluten free options.  I ended up getting both dinner and some lunch for the next day.  The gluten and dairy free pizza was great and so was the pasta dish I had.  I love that they have a dedicated oven just for the gluten-free pizza.

Dr. David Katz kicked off day 2 of the conference.  Dr. Katz has done a lot in the space of educating kids how to read labels and become aware of what they are eating.  His Nutrition Detectives can be obtained for free and other free programs that you can download for your school.  ABC for Fitness helps teachers work physical activity right into the daily lesson giving kids a total of 30 minutes of exercise a day instead of just being stationary.  He is also part of a group that has created NuVal the nutritional scoring system that you can find in many grocery stores.  The closer the score is to 100 the more nutrient dense the food. You can check here to see what stores are using this system and take the quiz on nutrition by the numbers.

Next up was one of my favorites Dr. Mark Hyman, Chairman for the Institute for Functional Medicine, who talked about Diabesity.  Yes that is the combo of Diabetes and Obesity.  He shared lots of data starting with the change in obesity levels in our country.  In 1990 when there was information from almost all of the states, there was less than 10-14% obesity rates among the population.  By the year 2000 there was only one state left with that rate, Colorado.  In the year 2010 the lowest rate was 20-24% of which there were 15 states and Colorado was still one of them.   There were 25 states at the rate of 25-29% and 13 states at 30% and above.  In 20 short years the rate of obesity all across the country is increasing at an alarming rate along with children being diagnosed with diabetes.  You know, what we used to call Adult onset diabetes.  I’ve already pre-ordered his new book coming out next year, The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

We then learned from the one and only, Deepak Chopra.  He shared many wonderful things.  He started with leaders and leadership.  He said, “A leader is the symbolic soul of a group consciousness.”  Then he went on to explain that and give us many great tools from his book, Soul of a Leader.  He also shared important questions to ask yourself before you meditate.  Questions like who am I, what do I want, what is a peak experience for me, and many more.  I have pages and pages of amazing notes from his lecture.

We then got to do something really fun, Masala Bhangra with Sarina Jain.  It’s a really fun workout that incorporates the folk dance moves of Bhangra and also Bollywood.  We all had so much fun.  I’ve ordered her videos and can’t wait to get started.  There are classes that can be found around the US but none near me.

Robert Notter, who is a health coach and a coach to health coaches, also spoke sharing more of his wisdom.  I enjoy his lectures on how to run a business and I’m actually part of his group coaching program to learn even more.  I’m headed back to NYC in November to attend his Success From Within live weekend event.

Kathy Freston closed out the guest speakers.  Her latest book is Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World.

I know this is a much longer post than I usually share but as you can see it was so packed that I wanted to make sure I gave you a taste of the event.  I can’t wait for the next one!

I love gnocchi but I have not had any since I started living gluten free.  Everyone told me making gluten-free pasta was easy and after I finally tried making it, I realized they were right.  I’ve also heard that making gluten free gnocchi was easy, but you know I’m a show me kind of gal.  So I picked up 4 large russet potatoes at the market and challenged myself to go for it.  I only needed 3 potatoes but I wanted an extra just in case I opened one up and it was black.

If you can bake potatoes, boil water and roll dough out like a snake then you can make gnocchi.  Oh, and you need to like to play with your food with a fork but not necessary.

I served this with thin pork cutlets that were inspired by Roger Mooking.  He made Panko Schnitzel.  Well Panko is great to use because it’s very light and holds the crisp, but if you are living gluten free it is off limits.  It’s Japanese Bread Crumbs so pass on that.  But I loved how he took the center cut of a boneless pork loin, sliced it and pounded it thin.  You’ll want to do the triple dip (gf flour, egg, gf bread crumbs) and fry them.  This makes your meat go a long way and that means saving money.  Love that.  I’m freezing my leftover to use for sandwiches with peppers, onions and red sauce, a Mexican Stack, and maybe even Eggs Benedict.  There are a ton of ways to use these little gems.

If after eating this you decide that making gluten-free pasta is as easy as I said, take the next step and make your own Lasagna!

Now, let’s get busy making those gnocchi.  It was so easy, that I went so fast I forgot to take very many photos.  You’ll just have to read most of this one.

One more note of importance.  According to Jacqueline Mallorca, author of Gluten-Free Italian: Over 150 Irresistible Recipes without Wheat–from Crostini to Tiramisu, the type of potato used is key to avoiding gummy gnocchi.  Stick with the russets which are floury bakers and stay away from waxy Yukon golds.

This naturally gluten free traditional Mexican meal is one of my favorite go to meals that is quick, easy and inexpensive.  The best part of this meal however is it’s one of those great tasting great mouth feel meals.  I keep mine dairy free too but you can always add in cheese.  It’s great for breakfast, lunch or dinner and works well with leftovers.

The key to this dish is having the ingredients on hand so you can make it at the drop of a hat.  I’ll make big batches of enchilada sauce and freeze it in portions needed for this recipe.  If I run out I always have Rick Bayless’ sauce on hand too.

Have fun with this recipe.  If you’re thinking you’ve seen this before, well you must be a newsletter subscriber.  I shared this recipe some time back through the newsletter.  Make sure you’re signed up so you can get these recipes and lots of great tips first hand.

photo by Eva Abreu

I’m very excited to be heading back to New York City for a Health Coach Conference from my school, Integrative Nutrition.  There are so many amazing speakers lined up.  Depak Chopra, Sally Fallon Morell, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. David Katz, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Pierre Dukan, Joshua Rosenthal, and Robert Notter.

It will be great to learn more from these instructors in person.  I listen to their lectures each week on my IIN iPod.  I think what I’m most excited about however, is meeting my fellow students who I’ve been chatting with virtually.  I’m also getting to meet someone who’s blog I’ve read ever since I found out I had to live gluten free.  Kelly Courson from Celiac Chicks has been wonderful to learn from and get to know virtually.

It will also be fun to be back in New York City.  I’ll be gone in a blink of an eye but it will be exciting as always to be there.  My last trip there was a few months ago and was even shorter.  I had won a trip to attend the NYC Premier of the last Harry Potter movie.

This time I’ll get to eat a few meals in the city.  I’m headed out to a cool restaurant for a gluten and dairy free Italian dinner.  When I get back I’ll let you know all about it.  Bernice from Wheatless and Meatless shared a few ideas for gluten and dairy free meals near the conference.  I can’t wait to give them a try too.  Ellen from Gluten Free Diva and a fellow student, suggested Friedman’s in the Chelsea Market as a place to eat.  I wish I had time to get there for lunch.  That would be exciting.

I hope you have a great weekend and if there is anything you want me to find out from a huge room full of fellow health coaches and amazing minds listed above, let me know.

Don’t you just love those dishes that you take one bite and your mouth is filled with amazing taste that filters out to all of your senses.  Well that is what we have here.  It’s not one of those pasta dishes where the pasta is swimming in the sauce, instead the sauce just wraps itself around the pasta and shrimp ensuring that every bite is amazing.

This flavor combination is so wonderful I can see changing out the shrimp for broccoli and chicken.  I’ll work on that next week.

This recipe makes 4 servings so why not invite a few people to dine with you.  This makes a great presentation and all you really need is a dark leafy green salad and you are good to go.  Oh and don’t forget the white wine.

Summer time has come and gone so fast.  It was so nice to take a break.  As you may have noticed I have not been posting on the blog as much while I was taking my summer break.  I missed sharing things here and chatting with many on Facebook and twitter.  But breaks are important and I hope you took one too and now you’re ready to get back to sharing.

What did you do on your summer break?  Was there one moment where you just took a deep breath and thought, wow I could do this every day the rest of my life?  Did you totally miss getting a break this summer?

Well school is back in session for a new year which means it’s a new year around my house.  It’s a feeling similar to New Year’s Day.  You know when we all make resolutions or restart things we had began in the previous year but let trail off for one reason or another.  It’s time to re-evaluate and think about what we want to be doing and what direction we want to be headed in.

What about you?  Do you look at this time of the year in the same way?  If not is it something that you already do on a regular basis throughout the year anyway? Or maybe it’s something that sounds good and you’ll give it a try.

So what areas do you review, re-evaluate and set goals around?  I think there are important areas in life that should be looked at.   Here are some of the guiding questions I ask.

How am I spending my time?

What am I doing to improve my health?

What am I doing for fun?

How am I nurturing my relationships?

What new things do I want to learn?

What am I doing with my spiritual life?

What advances do I want to make with my career path?

How can I improve my physical environment?

I then look at these questions through the lens with this main question:

“How am I when I’m at my best.”

When I answer those guiding questions with that lens, I come up with much different answers.  I try to stay away from answers around what I “SHOULD” do and that can be really hard to do.  I think we all have those  little voices in our heads trying to come up with all the right answers.

I’d love to hear from you.   What new resolutions, changes or goals have you set with this fall season?  Do you have the intention to do things a little differently?  Have you not thought about doing this until now but think you will give it a try?

Now with all of these questions I have one last one for you.  Where do you, that is taking care of you and doing things just for you, fall into your answers to those guiding questions.  Where do you fall into your goals, changes and resolutions?  Make sure “YOU” don’t get lost in the plan and the taking care of you is a real part of the plan.

I have met the most amazing people all because I started writing a food blog to remember the recipes and resource I found to live gluten free.  I’ve met people in the comment section on this blog, on Facebook, on twitter, at Food Blogging Conferences, in the grocery store, at my school IIN, and through other food bloggers.  I find there are many people out there as passionate about food as I am and we have formed a strong bond.  It’s so strong that when one of us hurts, we all hurt.  We are all hurting very deeply.

For the past few weeks I’ve been reading all the wonderful posts about Jennie and the love of her life Mikey.  Mikey died suddenly of a heart attack at age 51 on August 7th.  My heart just breaks for Jennie and her two little girls ages 3 and 8.  For those who have not met Jennie Perillo, she writes a food blog, In Jennie’s Kitchen.  I’ve met Jennie at a few food blogging conferences and she was always so nice.  She sat in on many panels I attended and always had great advice and information to share.

She like so many in the food world, give.  They give a part of their soul to you when they share the food they create and the stories they share.

As you can imagine, Jennie is overwhelmed not only by her grief, and the sudden responsibility of raising two children by herself, but she is also struggling with this financially. She just learned that she cannot collect widow’s benefits from Social Security because she earns too much money each year. The health insurance for her and her kids runs out in December and she just learned that the total she will have to pay will be more than her mortgage. It’s possible she’ll have to pay off the entire mortgage in one lump sum because the apartment was in his name alone. And more than anything, Mikey wanted Jennie to continue living her dream of being a food writer. And he wanted to make sure his kids were taken care of well. That’s why he worked as hard as he did. So I want to help. And I hope you want to help too.

Please do whatever you feel works for you.  This is about giving love and help and I would not want you to think this should be given out of guilt or for any other reason.  If you can donate $5, $50, $500, $5,000 or any amount is helpful.

I’m sharing just a few ways you can help.

1. Donate through this link

2. Bid on this auction

3. Create your own auction, contact Shauna Ahern at Gluten Free Girl and the Chef

If you would like to donate to A Fund for Jennie, please click on this Bloggers Without Borders button. It will take you straight to the PayPal account.  All the money donated for Jennie will go through Blogger Without Borders, a non-profit organization created by Maggy and Erika to be a conduit for the good efforts and well wishes of this food blogging community to do something.  

How about an Auction!

I have gone shopping and bought all of my kitchen favorites.  I’ve put them together in this amazing set and I’m auctioning it off here.  To keep it simple you can bid on this by leaving your bid in the comment section.  This auction will close on Friday September 9th at 11:00pm EST.  I will ship all of this to the winner and if you want to split the shipping costs with me that would be great.  The bidding will open at $300.

This Dream Kitchen Kit could be purchased for you, to split up with a group of friends, to be given out as holiday gifts to your friends and family, maybe a wedding gift or whatever fun things you come up with.  With this kit all you need is a cutting board and a sharp knife and you’re good to go!

All you have to do is BID NOW!

This Dream Kitchen Kit is valued at $879.45.

All-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless-Steel Saute` Simmer, 4 qt  with lid- you can cook just about anything in this pan and then toss it into the oven to boot.  value $245

All-Clad Tri-Ply Stainless-Steel Steamer Set, 3 Qt. – Love that this is a 3qt saucepan all on it’s own and you get the steamer basket too.  Great to steam vegetables, fish, dumplings or whatever.  I know for me I never have enough sauce pans, especially when the holidays arrive.  value $300

Rosti White Melamine Mixing Bowl Set – I use this set for just about everything from soaking grains, mixing up batter and filling up the large bowl with popcorn.  value $49.95

Nordic Ware Rolled Omelette Pan- this is a fun pan that will make anyone an expert omelette maker.  It’s the first time I’ve had my Daiya cheese totally melt.  Now I can have others in the house making omelettes too.  value $39.95

Le Crueset Oval Cocotte 12 ounce capacity- how cute is this.  It’s very handy if you are making a dish just for one or a side dish.  value $35

Collapsible Salad Spinner, 5 qt – this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen and I don’t have one yet.  I love salad spinners but they take up so much room.  This one doesn’t and I love the rip chord you pull to spin the lettuce.  Also use the inside unit as a stand alone colander.  value $29

Silicone Locking Tongs- I rarely use anything else in my saute` pan when cooking.  You have so much more control over what is going on in that pan when you use tongs.  value $28

Swissmar Multi Slicer- sometimes you don’t want to get out your large mandoline and you don’t want to spend the time cutting up your veggies julianne.  This is a quick solution.  value $25

Lemon or Lime Press- this makes adding lemon or lime juice to a recipe while cooking a breeze.  value  $20

Tripple Timer – I don’t know about you but I often have more than one thing cooking in the kitchen at the same time.  Instead of 3 separate timers, use just this one and set 3 different times.  value $20

Euro Oven Mit- this is the only mit I’ve ever had that I have not gotten burnt using.  value  $23

Traditional Fish Spatula- this is one of my favorites.  Sometimes you just need a delicate turner when flipping fish or something else that could fall apart.  value $15

Fine Microplane- this is wonderful for zesting citrus or maybe topping off your cupcake or coffee with a little chocolate.  value $15

Fine Mesh Stainless Steal Strainer- I don’t know what I would do without one of these.  When you’re straining your stock, making a sauce where you don’t want the seeds and countless other uses.  value  $15

The WHOLE Gang Apron – my own creation that I wanted you to have so you can keep your clothes clean while cooking.  value $19.95

Thank you for participating in this auction.  This auction is now CLOSED.

Remember to leave your bid in the comment section.  Opening bid is $300.  Auction closes Friday September 9th at 11:00pm EST.  Good luck!

It’s back to school time of year for many of us.  When I was a kid I always loved getting new clothes for school.  I miss that.  I think that we should grab our girlfriends and go shopping for our back to school clothes.  But I digress.  That is not what this post is about.

This is about planning and preparations so my life is easier and more manageable.  This week I went grocery shopping and I must have had half a dozen people stop me and ask why I had so much meat and a cart full of cherries and kale.  I told them school was starting and I was getting ready.

You see we strictly limit any lunch meats unless we can buy the ingredients at the grocery store.  Actually that is our rule of thumb for just about anything we eat.  The cleaner we keep it the better we all feel and there is nothing that tastes as good as feeling good feels.

I’m not sure what goes on in other homes but I know the beginning of the school year also brings high school soccer.  That means long days for my son and different hours of operation at our house.

Here’s the schedule:

6:20am I’m making breakfast

This is actually in Georgia but how cool!

6:35am breakfast on the table

6:50am out the door to drive to the bus stop

Then I am off onto my day and he’s riding an hour to get to school.  There he’ll have classes, lunch, soccer practice after school and another hour long bus ride home.  This means a good lunch and an after soccer snack that is good and won’t negate the need for a complete meal at the table with the family.

6:50pm pick up at the bus stop

7:20pm home and it’s dinner time

So you see if I don’t have dinner either in the crockpot, in the oven, something that can be heated or cooked fast we’re not having dinner until really late.  We usually eat dinner around 7:30 or 7:45pm.

On the nights when there is a soccer game I am at the game and we ride home together.  We’re still getting home around the same time but this means I’m not home at all to get a meal started.

So planning and preparation is key.

Here is my Top 10 List to do:

1. clear out and organize every food storage area- pantry, refrigerators and freezers (love the garage for extras)

2. update the inventory to see what I have on hand for current meals and for the next month

3. make sure we have all the “equipment” for packing school lunches and toss and update where needed

4. make a list of all the possible foods that can be packed for lunches & snacks and post it

5. add all practices, games and meeting to the calendar

6. plan a menu for the dinners for the month based on the schedule

7. plan when that pre-cooking or batch cooking will take place

8. pre-cook and batch cooking a whole list of foods that are labeled and stored in the freezer to be used for lunches, dinners and snacks

9. pack the car with supplies- soccer bag with blanket and cow bell, folding chairs, cooler bag, large umbrellas, non-perishable snacks, extra water bottles, tissues, magazines, wipes

10. schedule a massage for me within the first couple of weeks of school- Intentional Touch LLC Herndon, VA

Download this The W.H.O.L.E. Gang Weekly Menu 2011

Some of the foods I’m baking in batches and cooking to freeze.

Grain Free Tortilla Wraps- The Spunky Coconut

Power Bars- Gluten Free For Good

Apple Cinnamon Muffins – Simply…Gluten Free Dessert Cookbook

Pumpkin Bread, Zucchini Bread, Carrot Muffins- The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

Crackers- Elana’s Pantry

La Cecina

Croutons

Cherries and anything else in abundance at the market

Chocolate Chip Scones – Elana’s Pantry

beef brisket and chuck roast to be shredded and beef round to be slides for lunchmeat.

chicken breasts

meatballs- I stuff these with lots of hidden good foods

breakfast sausage

Scrapple

Bacon- cut into pieces and frozen to use for breakfast omelets and salads

pork shoulder

Here is a quick show of what I do with these large inexpensive cuts of organic meats.

Press your seasonings into the meat, often just salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  Sear both sides and cook in crockpot with 1/2 cup water on low for at least 8-14 hours.  The time varies according to when I can get back to it.

Work on the meat while it’s still hot.  I take it out of the crockpot and put it onto the cookie sheet.  At this point it’s easy to remove the large sections of fat.  I use two forks to work my way through the meat and fat.  You can see all of the fat and the bone that came from these two pork shoulders.

Once I have the meat separated onto the cookie sheet I cover it and put it into the freezer so when I put it into a large ziplock bag I don’t want it to be on big clump.

Next I strain the wonderful stock that was created and then put it into jars, label it and freeze it to use for soups and sauces.

I’d love to hear your tips!

There are a lot of great resources out there for getting ready for school and all have a unique perspective.  Here are some of my favorites.

Great resources:

And Love It Too! -has a whole series, here is one from guest author Shirley from gluten free easily.

Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom –  Read this for everything you want to know and a downloadable letter.

Alisa Cooks- has a downloadable book full of Smart School Time Recipes

Celiacs in the House- Shares great info for College kids.

Cook It Allergy Free- Great printable list of 50+ ideas for lunch boxes

Lexie’s Kitchen- Preserving the Harvest Party is a great idea of school prep with friends.

Stephanie O’Dea your ultimate resource for Crockpot Recipes.  Her latest Back To School.

If you have a great recipe to share for back to school please link it up here.

I love living gluten free, writing about it, sharing what I find with you and coaching people through this life.   There are so few things that I want to eat that I can’t find an alternative way to the original that suits my needs.  Knowing the ingredients in the food you eat is key to make this happen.  Asian ingredients are not my strong point so I need a lot of help in that area.

Take this new cookbook from Laura B. Russell, The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen: Recipes for Noodles, Dumplings, Sauces, and More.  This cookbook puts cooking delicious Asian meals at home well within reach for any Asian food lover, whether they are on a gluten free diet or not.  Along with sharing easy, approachable recipes, Russell demystifies Asian ingredients and helps readers navigate the grocery store so that everyone can enjoy popular dishes from some of the world’s best-loved Asian cuisines.   Not being familiar with these ingredients I found this extremely helpful.

Asian food poses unique challenges to the gluten-free cook where essential condiments like soy sauce, tamari, even oyster sauce and hoisin sauce can be thinckened or sweetened with wheat product.  Dumplings, pancakes, and many typs of noodles are blatant offenders, but it’s the sauces that often contain gluten and are harder to avoid.

This cookbook has 100 tasty recipes so that any home cook can quickyl and simply turn out full-flavored dishes that have all of the goodness and none of the gluten, such as Korean Green Onion Pancakes, Sticky Rice Dumplings, Chilled Tangy Soba Noodles, Tempura, Soy Sauce Chicken and Banana ans Sweet Potato Fritters.

The one food I’ve really missed are Pot Stickers.  I used to eat these by the carton full. Since living gluten, dairy and rice free starting in 2007,  I’ve not eaten very many Asian dishes at all and none of my favorite Pot Stickers.

I decided to dive in and make Laura’s Gingery Pork Pot Stickers with a dipping sauce.  This recipe calls for rice flour but I swapped out sorghum flour.  Even though I don’t eat soy I did make this recipe with it so I could see how the recipe worked.  The next time I make it I’ll use coconut aminos.  They taste like soy sauce but no soy to mess with my thyroid.

The recipe was easy to follow.  I really liked all of the options of making the dough for the dumplings ahead of time and then even freezing the extra uncooked ones for a great meal one night after soccer.  Since this was my first time making this recipe it did take me a little longer as I was reading what to do and then doing it.  Next time I’ll have had this experience and then it will go much faster.

The only problem with this recipe was we couldn’t stop eating them because they were so good.  The pork filling was amazing.  I could see serving these at a party for sure.  I’d make them ahead and freeze them or put them in the refrigerator until meal time and cook them right before serving.    Hmmm, I see a party coming on!

For another review check out Z’s Cup of tea. She made more recipes!  Plus head over to Shirley’s gluten free easily for a chance to win this cookbook or 7 more!  Ends August 28th.  You can also visit Go Dairy Free for Alisa’s review plus this second one she did on Salad Rolls looks really good too.

If this is your first school year with a gluten-free student, this Back to School Guide book is indispensable. Jules Gluten Free offers advice on how and when to talk to teachers, handling special occasions, creative and simple lunchbox ideas for mains, desserts and snack time; and college tips regarding roommates, dining hall issues, meeting gluten-free friends and more.

Even if this is not your first rodeo there is a lot of great info.  In addition there are sections on college tips and lunch boxes.  It’s always nice to have new ideas.   I’ll be packing for my trips to all of the soccer games this season so I don’t have to stop off at fast food joints to eat.  OK once in a while but there are a lot of soccer games and I have new Bento boxes to play with.

So how much would you pay for this book?  Guess what, I have a tip so you can get it for FREE.  Read on.

Jules Gluten Free is thrilled to be able to offer you a copy of Jules’ 2011 Back-to-School E-book at no charge.  Yes, for F-R-E-E!!!!!!  This is a limited time offer, expiring on August 26th, 2011.

Click here for details:  http://www.julesglutenfree.com/product-p/book-bts.htm

To redeem this fabulous e-book, simply visit www.JulesGlutenFree.com.

Go to the Product page.

Click on the Back-to-School E-book and Add to your Shopping Cart.

(To go directly to the e-book, click here:  http://www.julesglutenfree.com/product-p/book-bts.htm)

At check out, use this coupon code:  2011BTSebook (case sensitive).  Hit Apply.

The value of this item will drop to $0.00.

Purchase and process the order.

An e-mail will be sent to you allowing you to download the e-book.

For questions, feel free to contact support@julesglutenfree.com.

Let me know if you get the book and what you think.  Share any tips you might have for packing lunches here too.  Like I said, I’m always up for new ideas.

Three years ago today,  I started posting stories on my little blog about what I was learning and the recipes I was creating to live gluten free.  Now, three years later, the most amazing things have happened.  I have met so many wonderful people, both online and in person.

Thank you to all of you who take the time to read my blog posts and newsletters.  Thank you to those who connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.  Thank you for reaching out and for sharing.   Thank you to those who leave comments; I really appreciate hearing from you.  And thank you to all who are there, but have not chimed in.

You all have given so much to me in so many ways.  I hope that you will continue to stop by and share your thoughts, questions and experiences with me.  Let me know what you want to learn about and I’ll be happy to share what I know and research what I don’t.

I wish you all good health and happy days.

August, the last month of the summer.  The month we are inundated with tons of tomatoes.  I love it.  Everything in the garden and on the farms is really humming.  I love how basil is bountiful at the same time as the tomatoes.  Works out nicely.   It’s a great time to make a pesto and roast off some tomatoes then top it off with that pesto.  Yum!

I’m really excited to see what you have to share with us this week.   Here are some great ideas from last week:

The Easiest Way to Peel Garlic from Whole. New. Mom

Poblano Soup from Gluten Free Cat

Baked Sweet Potato Falafel from Diet, Desserts and Dogs

OK, I’m waiting.  Show me what you got!

Guidelines:

Please link back to this post so your readers can find lots of great recipes.

Link to your individual post, not your home page.

Please share recipes made with very little packaged ingredients but using single food ingredients or Real Food. Maybe 1 or 2 if the list of ingredients is long.  If I bake something I’m usually using almond flour but I didn’t make it myself.   So you see where I’m going with this.

Please do not link giveaways or book reviews, this is for recipes with Real Food.

As always, have fun!

Now hopefully that doesn’t seem to difficult.  The point is to share Real Food with Real People!

Please don’t make me be a meanie and have to remove your link if you don’t follow the guidelines.

When you share your recipe feel free to grab one of these badges, or as Tia calls it Real Food Bling, and add it to your post.  You can even add it to your blog sidebar.

You can find these on the page dedicated to Real Food Weekly.

Now look below for the words, Click Here To Enter so you can link up your recipe!  Thank you.

I am very excited to host this month’s edition of Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free.  This is the monthly blog event created by Naomi Devlin from Straight Into Bed, Cake Free and Dried.  Each month a new blog hosts with a different theme.  August 2011 will be hosted by Shirley of Gluten Free Easily with just the sort of thing you want when the heat of August hits - Dishes So Simple, No Recipe Required!  Check out the whole schedule through May 2012.

I’m not sure if you have heard about the amazing things that happened at my alma-mater Hogwarts but I must share.  It was an amazing event and I was even part of what happened.  For me it all started when I went to the market one day.  I was in the produce aisle and someone bumped into me except there was no one there.   I had a sneaking suspicion who it might be so I made sure whoever it was couldn’t get past me.  Then I whispered, Harry, is that you under the invisibility cloak.  A soft whisper came back, no it’s Hermonie but please don’t say anything.  I assured her I wouldn’t and offered to make them a meal and hide them for the day.

See everyone knew she, Ron and Harry were on the run.  Some of us had an idea it was something that Professor Dumbledore had left them to do after his death.  The poor kids were famished.  I guess it’s hard to live off of whatever mushrooms or berries you find along the way.  I was just putting the final touches on a lemon white bean cake with pistachio lemon topping that is As Good As Gluten according to my friend Lauren.  They sat down and devoured almost the whole cake plus being a Gluten-Free Homemaker like Linda, I had a fruit pizza on hand too.

They shared with me that they were in deed on a special mission but they couldn’t tell me anything more.  They couldn’t stay long so I didn’t get to make them any of my favorites from A Gluten Free Hogwarts.  But with City Life Eats I was able to share with them some raspberry chocolate pudding that Valerie created.

I really wanted to help them in any way I could and the only thing I could think of was getting them food.  They never knew where they were going to apparate to next or if they would get food.  They were running from You Know Who.  I had to figure it out so how to get around this Daily Dietribe.  So I sat down with some fruit and herb salad and summoned my inner wisdom, Iris.

Finally, a solution came to me.  I arranged to have some treats available to them whenever they could summon them.  It took a special kind of magic to send it to them since the Floo Network was being monitored and so was any portkey I could whip up.  Hanging out with the houseelf Doby I learned a few tricks about food appearing out of nowhere.  He was a very kind house elf.

So I got busy baking and making treats.  I had KateAlice Cookbook’s recipe for apple blueberry millet crumble.  Something they could heat up on the fire if they wanted.  And then for more Daily Bites I made raspberry brownie bites.   I sure hoped they were getting all of these treats including a Tasty Eats From Home of  healthy chocolate zucchini muffins.  Hallie and Alta thought they could carry some with them in Hermonie’s bag.  She seemed to be able to fit all sorts of things in this tiny bag of hers. 

That’s all I ended up sending before I heard they were captured by snatchers and taken to the Malfoy manor.  Somehow they escaped and headed to Shell Cottage where Ron’s brother and sister-in-law lived, Bill and Fleur.  I was happy there were finally somewhere safe and where they could get a good home cooked meal.

Fleur is a wonderful cook.  I heard She Let Them Eat Cake every meal and made a decadent chocolate sauce for ice cream too.  My friend Maggie would have loved that.  Well of course they liked that And Love It Too when she made them molten lava cakes.  Wouldn’t that make your day Sunny!

There is one thing that Fleur is great at is Faking it Gluten Free Style.  Every morning they woke to spiced peach cupcakes.  Well you know, muffins and cupcakes are really the same thing says Terri.  I heard she even bewitched egg cakes baked in eggshells which she served with Z’s Cup of Tea.

They had to stay at the cottage for some time while they worked on something.  I come to find out it was a plan to brake into Gringots the wizarding bank.  They say it’s the safest place and no one has ever stole anything from there.  So once again they were off and without food.  I’m not sure why they didn’t take any of the coconut chocolate cookies from the RA Vegan or the carrot cake that was Gluten Free, SCD and Veggie.

Well believe it of not they did manage to break into the bank and get out safely.  Then for some reason they headed off to Hogsmead, the village near Hogwarts.  They almost got caught too.  Thankfully Aberforth, Professor Dumbeldores brother, helped them to safety and fed them some ginger cake with lemon cashew frosting after he got rid of the Fox in The Kitchen.

Well the next thing you know they are running around Hogwarts and there are not just a few death eaters or snatchers after them but hundreds.  All of their friends were there to help Harry, Ron and Hermonie along with those in the Order of the Phoenix plus the teachers of Hogwarts.  Molly Weasly fought fiercely to protect her daughter and even I showed up to see if I could help.

The battles took place all over Hogwarts and the grounds. The fighting was fierce and people were dying.   It’s just too sad to tell you all the people we loved that lost their lives fighting. But they never gave up and they never handed over Harry to Voldemort.

The castle was mostly in ruins or on fire and you should have seen the explosions.  At one point we all thought Harry was dead and Voldemort wanted everyone to just join him.  Can you imagine.  Well you know how it ended.

With the battle finally over, everyone gathered in the great hall.  We had warm drinks and the house elves brought us all some treats.  First I had raw cashew cheesecake as I listened to the Adventures of Pip.  I was Gluten Free and Loving It eating orange sherbet with Rogene and we were living gluten free easily with the watermelon sherbet and a bonus milk shake from Shirley while Adrienne felt like a Whole New Mom eating chocolate almond chip coconut milk ice cream.

It’s 19 years later now and life has moved on but not a day goes by that I don’t think about Harry, Ron and Hermonie and everything that happend.  How brave, clever and quick on their feet they were.  I will always treasure the time I spent with them throughout the many years.  They are filled with many wonderful memories.  It’s sad that part is all over but it’s good to know that “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”  shared J.K. Rowling at the London Premier.  Thank you Jo.

Photo: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

My biggest thrill was getting to go to the NYC premier and be just feet away from the stars of this movie.  If you missed my story click here.

I can’t believe it’s Thursday already and our weekly roundup is here.  I’m looking forward to you sharing your real food recipes with us.

Did you happen to catch what was shared last week?    How about the Savory Lemon-Kissed, Sun-Dried Tomato Artichoke Chicken Clafoutis (Gluten Free, Dairy Free) from gluten free easily or the video on Zucchini Pancakes from Real Food Forager.  I liked that spicy Watermelon Jalapeno Love Salad from Gluten Free Cat.  There are a lot more you should check out if you missed it.

Now for this week it’s your turn to share!

Summer time is the perfect time to fire up the grill and barbecue.  I know you’ll love this sauce which is gluten free and vegan (no dairy).  If you have subscribed to The WHOLE-istic Life newsletter than you have already received this recipe a couple of months ago.  One bonus to subscribing.

I thought I would share it now with everyone else.  You can use this on meats or vegetables as it will add flavor to anything.

OK everyone I’m ready for you’re amazing real food recipes!  You had amazing things to share last week. I can’t wait to see what you are making with your July harvests.

This week I headed to the Real Food Daily restaurant in Santa Monica.  Check out their menu.  Who could resist with such a great name and concept!

OK, now it’s your turn to share recipes.

Guidelines:

Please link back to this post so your readers can find lots of great recipes.

Link to your individual post, not your home page.

Please share recipes made with very little packaged ingredients but using single food ingredients or Real Food. Maybe 1 or 2 if the list of ingredients is long.  If I bake something I’m usually using almond flour but I didn’t make it myself.   So you see where I’m going with this.

Please do not link giveaways or book reviews, this is for recipes with Real Food.

As always, have fun!

Now hopefully that doesn’t seem to difficult.  The point is to share Real Food with Real People!

Please don’t make me be a meanie and have to remove your link if you don’t follow the guidelines.

When you share your recipe feel free to grab one of these badges, or as Tia calls it Real Food Bling, and add it to your post.  You can even add it to your blog sidebar.

You can find these on the page dedicated to Real Food Weekly.

Now look below for the words, Click Here To Enter so you can link up your recipe!  Thank you.

Michelle is a power house.  If you’re not sure just take a little time to read all about her passion and her travels.  Don’t forget her new cookbook!  I’ve met Michelle via the blog world and in person at conferences and she’s as wonderful in person as she is here in print.  Enjoy!

Name : Michelle Stern

Business and or blog name: What’s Cooking with Kids

URL: http://whatscookingwithkids.com

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Favorite quote: “It’s better to try and fail than to fail to try.” (I can’t remember who said it…)

Focus of blog or business: Cooking with kids for a healthy body, planet and community

Social Media I play in: Twitter (@whatscooking); Facebook (/whatscookingkids)

I started my blog in the month and year: a long time ago, and it was awful back then…I like to think of the past year or two as being worthwhile

Professional organizations I belong to: San Francisco Professional Food Society, International Association of Culinary Professionals

Training/education I received: I am a trained teacher (I used to teach high school biology and environmental science)

My favorite healthy food: kale chips!

My favorite snack food: chips and salsa, popcorn

My top 3 healthiest foods I love to eat or recommend: kale chips, roasted veggies, seasonal produce, in general

Childhood ambition: to be a veterinarian (but then organic chemistry happened.  Yikes!)

My favorite cookbook: too many to list here…

Proudest moment: I was invited to the White House for the launch of Michelle Obama’s Chefs Move to Schools initiative; my first book was just published! The Whole Family Cookbook: Celebrate the goodness of locally grown foods

What I do to feel at peace: hiking or bird watching

Craziest thing I’ve ever done: I studied monkey mating behavior on an island in Puerto Rico after college

Books I’ve written: The Whole Family Cookbook: Celebrate the goodness of locally grown foods
(April, 2011)

I started my blog to: find a way to reach a broader audience and help them buy and prepare healthier foods for their health and the planet with their children

What I hope the people that visit my blog find: I hope that people who visit my website will become inspired to cook with their kids, help the planet, and use food and cooking as a way to help the less fortunate

Products and/or services I offer: I offer cooking classes and parties to children; speaking engagements for adults about cooking with children, family mealtimes, and avoiding power struggles; consulting for people starting their own cooking with kids business or looking for support to teach cooking to children in the schools; spokesperson services (one day!), and my book!

What I love about what I do: I am so proud that I can empower kids and their families to make healthier choices that leave a smaller footprint on the environment

How am I making a difference in my community: I work with children and their families to use food and cooking to help the less fortunate.  We have a SOUP event coming up, for example, in which we are partnering with Studio 4 Art, a nearby children’s art studio, to raise funds for a local emergency family shelter.  At the event, guests contribute a small donation, choose a hand-thrown bowl, and we fill it with savory soup. They leave with a full belly, a piece of art and a warm heart knowing that their donation helped to feed a child.

June 20th was my 24th wedding anniversary and to celebrate we wanted to try a new restaurant to us.  Shauna the gluten-free girl, was recently in Washington, DC for the Eat, Write, Retreat conference and raved about her meal at Bibiana