Spring is a wonderful time of the year, isn’t it?  I love the fresh seasonal ingredients that start to show up in the grocery stores and of course the farmers markets.  I’m always looking to cook those up just as soon as possible and pair them with ingredients that are timeless.  This recipe includes Lindsay Olives, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and cannelloni beans all of which you can pick up today no matter where you live.

When making this dish you have a couple of options for the variety of Lindsay Olive you choose.  I really like their Taste Profile chart which can help you make your choice.  I would think Sicilian or Spanish Whole would be other good options besides the Greek Kalamata Olive.

You can also either keep the egg on top or not.  If you do make sure the yolk is soft and runny.  This will help create a creamy sauce in your pasta.  You can cook the egg in the oven like I did or in a skillet or poached in which you would add it at the end when serving.  I would suggest 1 egg for every two people you are serving.

This gluten free meal can be prepared in the time it takes to cook the pasta plus 10 minutes for the oven or most likely a total of 16 minutes.  Not bad for a filling and tasty lunch or dinner.

This recipe is part of a Kitchen Progressive Party event that will have five courses created by five different bloggers: amuse bouche, bread, salad, appetizer and entree, all posted today and all featuring Lindsay Olives.

Now if you are a blogger you can submit a post featuring a Lindsay Olives recipe that you think would “complete” the menu or Progressive Party (cocktail? soup? dessert? sky’s the limit!). To help, you can go to the EventBrite page and request either product or coupons for Lindsay Olives. Once you’e created your dish (along with post/recipe/photo), submit a link to that post on the Kitchen PLAY .  Your post needs to include links to both Kitchen PLAY and Lindsay Olives. Winner will be drawn from all the eligible entries received. The prize for the winner is $200.   Good luck to all!

“I was compensated by Kitchen PLAY and Lindsay Olives for creating this post and recipe. All opinions are mine.”

The month of celebrations!  They are upon us already.  Chinese New Year was on Sunday, Fat Tuesday is tomorrow, Valentine’s Day is Thursday and Purim is Sunday the 24^th.  Now I passed over President’s Day as I’ve never made a special meal for that but a nice cherry pie comes to mind for President Washington.

Of course there are all of the fun National celebrate holidays this month still to come:

February 13 - National Tortellini Day

Feb 15 - National Gum Drop Day

Strawberry Margarita ©Diane Eblin

Feb 16 - National Almond Day

Feb 18 - Drink Wine Day

Feb 19 - Chocolate Mint Day

Feb 20 - National Cherry Pie Day

Feb 21 - National Sticky Bun Day

Feb 22 - National Margarita Day

Feb 23 - National Banana Bread Day

Feb 24 - National Tortilla Chip Day

Feb 25 - National Chili Day and National Chocolate Covered Nuts Day

Feb 26 - National Pistachio Day

Which one sare you going to celebrate?

Growing up outside of Philadelphia my eyes first went to the Sticky Bun Day.  I found this gluten free recipe that I just might have to try.  The trick is to find the gluten free recipes that keep with your easy, healthy, gluten free life!

I also rarely turn down a good margarita.  I think I’ll make my Strawberry Margarita on the 22nd.

If you are looking for some sweets don’t miss out on Shirley’s Suite of Sweets at gluten free easily or her entire website dedicate to All Gluten Free Desserts All the Time.

If you are looking for dairy free you’ll want to visit Go Dairy Free.  Many of her recipes are also gluten free but read the ingredients and directions.  Those Amazing Chocolate Mousse Cups are calling to me.

If you are celebrating Fat Tuesday with the whole New Orleans vibe you may want to give my Turducken Burgers a try or the Crustless Pecan Pie.

If you are celebrating on the 25th try my Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts and my 3,2,1 Chili.

Whatever day you are celebrating find the recipes that work for you.  You can use the search bar at the top right, the ingredient list on the right sidebar or the whole page dedicated to the Recipe Index.

Do you have a recipe for one of these celebrations?  If so share your link below.

Happy February everyone!

Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts GFDFSF

My favorite day of the year is almost upon us, the Super Bowl.   I love putting together a spread of fun foods to eat that are gluten free and dairy free and watching the game with friends.  This year I’ll be making some of the recipes in my 2013 Cookbook Desk Calendar.  There are some great options that you can make too no matter if you’re hosting or taking a dish to someone else’s party.  If you don’t have a copy of the calendar order it now so you’ll have it in time to cook up the recipes for the big game.  It will help you on the path to living an easy, healthy, gluten free life.

This year there will be a first for the game.  Two brothers are coaching against each other.  Jim Harbaugh for the San Francisco 49ers and John Harbaugh for the Baltimore Ravens.  Can you just imagine their parents and what that would be like?  I’m guessing they’re rooting for both.  Who are you hoping wins the game, Ravens or 49ers?

No matter who wins you’ll want to have some good eats while watching the game and the commercials.  Scroll down and you’ll see each month and some ideas on how to serve them for the big game.  This calendar is a party in a box!

Oh and don’t forget for those who own this cookbook calendar, to go to the last page and grab the Secret Code for the webpage full of photos giving more detailed directions, links to more recipes using the ingredients in these 12, plus a ton more recipes and cooking tips.

January is a must to have at the party, Jicama Tacos or Tostados.  I love guacamole and anytime I can find more creative ways to use it I will.  Here I’ve combined it with purple potatoes and mushrooms or shrimp and bay scallops.

February Little Lasagna Flowers are good since there are in single serve size.  What you use for the flower itself and the filling is totally up to you.  I give you a few suggestions for both.

March would be good if you cut up this Tunisian Frittata and served it on a pizza peel.  You know the wooden paddle you see them pull pizzas from the oven with.  I love that as a serving dish.  Easy to carry over to the coffee table or even to carry around and serve people from.

April is something you may want to keep for the celebration meal the next day when your team wins.  This Garlic Roasted Asparagus with Poached Egg and Prosciutto is a classic but with my twist of Polenta Croutons.

May is something that can be made in a large casserole and your guests can serve themselves this Easy Layered Mexican Casserole.    You could even pair it up with the Jicama Tacos.

June is also a dish you can make in a nice large casserole or lasagna pan.  It also takes just a few minutes to put together and then you pop it into the oven.  With it being winter however I would use canned fire roasted tomatoes instead of fresh for this Oven Roasted Pesto Vegetables Deluxe.

July is the month to use fresh tomatoes for this Can’t Beet California Cobb Salad and since it’s January you’ll want to swap that out for another favorite ingredient if serving it now.  I really like having some type of salad when watching the big game.

August is one of those dishes that looks really hard to make but trust me anyone can do this.  The Summer Vegetable Rosettes you see pictured here was cooked by my husband who is not a cook.  He can make scrambled eggs but doesn’t venture too far from that.  Zucchini is in season during the summer but you can buy it any time of the year.  This recipe uses cashew cream cheese as an option so if you make a batch save some for the many other recipes I’ve shared using that ingredient.

September is one of my favorite fast meals to make, Hash in a Flash.  It uses ingredients you have on hand and is cooked in one pan so clean up is fast.  If you make this serve it in a big bowl and let your guests spoon out as much as they like.

October is a very satisfying and flavorful Smoky Simmering Soup.  It’s one of those great chop and drop recipes right into your slow cooker.  Put it in there in the morning and it will be ready for you at game time.  How easy can it get!

November is another recipe that uses cashew cream cheese.  It’s a wonderful dish for those who want their big game food to be a little fancier.  Cashew Cream Yam Cannelloni served with a bechamel sauce is sure to delight.

December Mushroom Party recipes are perfect for the big game food.  Keep the mushrooms smaller so they are finger foods and not something you’ll need a fork and knife to eat.  I give you three options and the recipes for each.  You can keep them vegetarian and make the Yam Packed Mushrooms or not and make the Crabby Mushrooms or Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms.

Enjoy the game, your friends and family and the good food you’ll make.  I hope your team wins!

So, what are you going to make and who do you hope wins the game?

It’s the holidays and that means lots of parties at friends houses, your own or at the office.  What’s a gluten free girl to do?  Bring these tasty treats and you’ll have something to eat and secure your repeat invitation.

These are really fast to make and they pack a ton of flavor.  You can choose how large or small you make them and what you serve them on or in.  Just make sure you serve it with the secret sauce.  Use your creativity with these little gems.  I’ve served them on round slices of polenta.  You can also use them to make Sriracha Shrimp Jalapeño Poppers or Stuffed Roasted Anaheim or Poblano Peppers.  It depends if you are using them as an appetizer, side dish or main dish.  By using the green herbs and the roasted red peppers they are very festive for the season.  Also this can be used as a subsititute for the Mushroom Party recipe in the 2013 Cookbook Desk Calendar.

You’ll also want to tuck this recipe away for all of those college bowl games and the Super Bowl.  I’m sure you’ll start to find any reason you can to make these.  I’m going to warn you that these are highly addictive.   You can make these on any busy night and don’t even worry about the polenta rounds.  Make them larger like a burger and serve them on a toasted bun, gluten free of course.

To learn more ways to succeed at Gluten Free Holiday Survival, please join me on Wednesday for a free teleseminar.   You can join via phone or computer no matter where you live.  You can find out more here.  Even if you can’t make the call, register so you’ll receive the recording.

Do you have questions about cooking a gluten-free Thanksgiving meal? Maybe you’re having guests over to eat and they have specific dietary needs and you want to make sure they are safe.  Do you have a family favorite recipe that you would like some ideas on how to make it a gluten free recipe?

Let’s meet up on Facebook and talk turkey, gluten free style.  Join me, along with fellow gluten free health coach and blogger Ellen Allard the Gluten Free Diva.  Joining in will also be  Shirley Braden,

Leader of the King George Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Group, from gluten-free easily.

Come with your questions and we’ll work to get you answers.  Join us on Tuesday at 6pm ET or 3pm PT on The WHOLE Gang Facebook Page.

How many of these folks are at your table?

This is a fast gluten free recipe that can be made to taste any way you like.  There really is no end to the possibilities of seasonings you can use.  If you’re looking for something orange to serve for Halloween try the Buffalo Wing Sauce.  Have fun with your food and have a Happy Halloween!

It’s not too soon to start prepping for Thanksgiving if you want to have control over the ingredients in the foods you and your family will be eating and save money. Yes, as you can see I am a bit of a control freak.  I like to save money, pick which ingredients we don’t eat and most of my foods to be organic.  I especially buy organic when it comes to ingredients that fall on the dirty dozen list.  We’ll be eating celery in my stuffing, potatoes will be mashed, spinach, lettuce, sweet bell peppers and cucumbers in a salad, kale in my vegetarian Cashew Cream Yam Cannelloni and green beans as a side dish.

Also as soon as I can place my order for an organic turkey I do so.  I remember the first year I made the switch to organic turkey.  It was by far the best tasting turkey I have ever eaten.  It was juicy and tasted like turkey, instead of just bland.

But for now I’ll just work on the foundations of my turkey and stuffing portion of the meal.  I’ll work on some of the other menu items closer to the date.  For instance I’ll make cashew cream cheese on Tuesday of that week so it will be ready for my Cashew Cream Yam Cannelloni.  That will be the centerpiece for my vegetarian Thanksgiving for my oldest son, Andy.

So this week I got to play more with my new Ninja Cooking System, (sent to me for free).  The more I cook with this the more I really love it.  I steam roasted two organic turkey breasts.  They were on sale for a great price so I had to snag them.  I also wanted them to slice up for lunch and dinners for the coming couple of weeks.  It’s so much better than buying lunchmeat.  Again, control over ingredients.  I get organic, gluten free and sugar free lunch meat plus save money at the same time.  These breasts came out so tender and juicy and it didn’t take long to cook them either.  I put vegetable and chicken stock in the bottom of the Ninja and put the breasts on the roasting rack.

What I was not expecting with this was a beautiful delicious turkey gravy base when I was done cooking the turkey.  You could of course buy things like this at the stores like Williams Sonoma for $10.95.  Here is what is their turkey gravy base:  Water, turkey flavor (chicken stock, salt, autolyzed yeast extract, flavors, hydrolyzed soy protein, maltodextrin, chicken fat, caramel color, soy lecithin), modified food starch, turkey broth, rendered turkey fat, natural flavoring, gdl (an acidifier).  

Can I just say yuck!  So first of all there are many ingredients in here that could contain gluten such as maltodextrin, caramel color, and natural flavoring.  The modified food starch if made from wheat should note this.  Just in case you have never used a turkey gravy base, all you have to do is add in water or milk and you have gravy.

So I made an amazing tasting turkey gravy base for free since it was what was left after steam roasting my turkey.  I also can tell you every ingredient in it and you can even pronounce them.

I then sliced the turkey off the bones and tossed those bones back into the Ninja to make turkey stock.  I ended up with 15 cups of stock.  This will be perfect for making my Gluten Free Stuffing with Pancetta Sage Sausage and the gravy.  This is a huge money saver since I’m using the turkey bones again, some vegetables and water.  The cost for those ingredients was far less than the $20 it would cost to buy that much turkey stock that usually contains sugar, which is off limits for my youngest son.  Besides if I’m eating something with sugar or sweet, I want it to be a dessert.  Again I get to control the ingredients,  save money and keep that easy, healthy, gluten free life!

If you search the internet, check out Pinterest and look on your local Meet Up you will find there are many many Harry Potter fans out there besides me. Most of them are extremely creative. As Halloween approaches and you are getting ready to mix, bake, and cook your treats for the holiday, I did a little research for you. Here are some Harry Potter inspired recipes.

PLEASE check the ingredients listed, even if they say they are gluten or dairy free.  Most of these recipes come from non gluten or dairy free blogs.

First I have to share my Cauldron Cakes.  This is a gluten free recipe and dairy free too!  I will be making some version of these this year too.  I’ll also make more chocolate frogs where I melt the Enjoy Life chocolate chips and use my frog candy mold.  

Bakingdom shares a recipe for  Butterbeer.  This gal has tons of Harry Potter inspired recipes.  Now it’s not a gluten free blog so double check ingredients.  Still thirsty how about some Pumpkin Juice?

If you are into Potion Making you will love Affairs of Living gluten free Harry Potter party.

If you’ve read any of the Harry Potter books or seen the movies you’ll know there are tons of sweet opportunities to be inspired to recreate something from the Sweet Trolly on the Hogwarts Express or Honeydukes Sweet Shop in Hogsmead.

Bryton Taylor has created a gluten free verison of Pumpkin Pasties.  They look delicious!

Traditional Chocolate Truffles from Gluten Free Mommy look decadent.   You can also find Licorice Wands on the train.  They are one of Ron’s favorites

If you are looking for more of a breakfast treat, Delight Gluten Free Magazine shared these gluten free crumpets.

For more Harry Potter inspired recipes and fun foods to make for Halloween or any day, check out the fan site, Muggle Net with recipes from Madame Rosmerta (character from books).   Use all of your gluten free knowledge and adapt those recipes.  If you have questions feel free to ask me and I’ll see if I can help with the conversions.  Let me know what you create!

Send in pictures of your gluten free Harry Potter and gluten free Halloween foods, and I’ll post them here.

I’m talking of course of the latest meatball craze.  Meatballs are so hot there are meatball only restaurants and cookbooks.  They have recipes for Goat Balls and Bunny Balls.  Don’t think I’m trying either of those.

We’ve been eating a variety of meatballs around here for some time.  I love to make them because there are fast, easy and you can put just about anything into them.  They make great every day food, party food, special occasion food, can be served alone, with a side dish, in a soup or in a sandwich and are easy to make as a gluten free recipe.

I’ve made Meatballs with a Heart, Chicken Meatballs, Simply Dressed Meatballs, North African Meatballs, and the traditional Spaghetti and Meatballs.  With the price of meats increasing I’m sure I will be making more balls from assorted foods.  What’s the most interesting ones you’ve made or eaten?

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making these. Funny enough I decided to give this a try while I’m not at my kitchen. I don’t have all of the usual tools and equipment or supplies so I got creative.

I found these amazing flowers while at the farmers market. I brought them home and put them on the top shelf of the refrigerator. This not being my typical unit I didn’t know many of my flowers would freeze. What I did salvage was not in the best shape but I was determined to give this a try.

Also with this being my first attempt I wanted to use real cheese as the filling. I’d really like to give cashew cream cheese a try in these now that I have my first ones under my belt.  So this is not dairy free but of course a gluten free recipe.

I only knew a couple of things about attempting this dish after listening to the man who grew these zucchini blossoms talk about them in the farmer’s market.  He made it sound so easy and so delicious.  His main tip is that you need a very thin batter so it doesn’t weigh them down and stuff them with a soft cheese.

I travel with my little Magic Bullet which really comes in handy.  It’s less weight to travel with than my Vitamix and can work on some things if you’re patient.  I used this to make the batter and it worked extremely well.

The most important thing to remember when trying something new is don’t worry about it.  If it fails, well you learned something along the way.  For instance, don’t let the blossoms freeze or they just melt into nothing useable.  Also don’t worry if the cheese sneaks out while cooking.  That just means you need to adjust something like the level of heat.

Let me know if you have ever made stuffed zucchini blossoms and what you stuffed them with.

I’m going to keep playing with this recipe to make a vegan version and a Paleo version.

If you get my newsletter you’ve already seen this cool gadget and gotten these two recipes.  What you’re not receiving the newsletter!  Sign up now so you get the scoop first, plus any offers and discounts will be in that newsletter.  Click Here for more info.

Love this new kitchen gadget! I don’t know why I waited so long to get one. I’ve seen others use it and thought wow that looks cool but really, can’t I just do that with a knife?

I could if I had all day to prepare my meals. If you have endless hours to prepare your meals no need to read on any further.

However if you want to have an easy healthy gluten free life, lots of fun, make great meals and have people who don’t typically eat vegetables start asking for second helpings, well check this out.

For lunch I made a Cucumber and Tomato Salad.

For dinner I made a Zucchini and Squash Pesto Pasta which had no grains in it whatsoever.

Oh the fun I’m going to have with this tool.

So I’ll share the recipes for these two dishes along with the great boulettes de poulet et de porc au pesto.

Are you heading out to watch fireworks for the 4th of July and taking a picnic with you?  Maybe you’re heading out to a party or potluck and you want to take something with you so you know you will get to eat a safe meal.  Here are a few of my favorite easy healthy gluten free recipes to make and take.  Have a great week and enjoy the holiday.

Pesto Chicken Salad

Three Onion Wild Tuna Fish Salad

Seven Minute Egg Salad

Organic Chicken Salad

Buffalo Chicken Idaho Potato Salad

Chili Shrimp and Chicken

Fruit Kebobs

Cucumber and Onion Salad

Blueberry and Blackberry Crumble Pie

Crustless Chocolate Pecan Pie

Quinoa Salad

Vinaigrette Potato Salad

Garlic Hummus

Guaco Tacos

Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Recently I had the pleasure to hang out with fellow gluten free food bloggers and what a time we had.  We spent a lot of the time eating of course and then taking pictures of the food.  We were in an amazing setting in the woods that was so peaceful except for our giggling fits.

One of the meals we shared was a Dairy Free Cheese Fondue.  We dipped gluten free bagette, broccoli and cauliflower florets into the creamy fondue.  We also had a side of Sweet Italian Sausage that we could dip into the cheese on our plate so we could keep the fondue pot vegetarian for our vegetarian guests.

photo credit Gluten-Free Cat

This is not the first time I’ve made this fondue recipe.  My youngest son requested it for his birthday and after I made it the first time I was totally hooked.  I know if you give this a try you will be too.  This recipe is not mine but one from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic “Uncheese” Dishes.  I choose the Chedda Fondue from the selection of fondue recipes.  Yes there are quite a few in there like Pizza, Swiss, Smoky, Classic, Pub, and South-of-the-Border Fondue.

Not only are there fondue recipes but all of your favorite cheese recipes that are all non-dairy.  Each recipe is noted if it is vegan, gluten free, soy free, and more.  If you are living dairy free and miss that cheesy gooeyness, check out this book.

We made a single batch and I don’t think we had any leftovers.  When I made it for my son and two friends we did have some leftovers because he also had a broth fondue and a chocolate fondue to fill them up.  I took the chedda leftovers and mixed it into cooked pasta to make Mac & Cheese. Yum!

If you’re like me and there are certain cookbooks you really like to travel with but you don’t want to carry all your cookbooks, put them on your Kindle or iPad.  You can get The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook for your Kindle and be reading it right now.

For a more visual representation of this amazing fondue check out this short video.

Dairy Free Chedda Fondue Gluten Free Recipe

photo credit Gluten-Free Cat

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups water or plain nondairy milk  (I used unsweetened Almond Milk)

1 cup roasted red peppers (skin and seeds removed), or pimento pieces (I used a jar of organic roasted peppers)

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 cup  raw cashews, or 1/3 cup cashew butter  (I used the raw cashews)

1/3 cup  quick-cooking rolled oats, or 1/4 cup flour (any kind, your choice)  (I used sorghum flour)

1/4 cup kuzu, arrowroot, or cornstarch  ( I used arrowroot)

3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 Tablespoon sesame tahini

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco

1/4 teaspoon each paprika and grated nutmeg

Instructions:

Place all the ingredient in a blender and process several minutes until the mixture is completely smooth.  Pour into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to low, and continue to stir and cook a few minutes longer until thick and smooth.  Transfer to a fondue pot and keep warm over a very low flame.

Makes 4 cups (about 7-8 servings)

This opulent fondue is fabulous with button mushrooms, cauliflower chunks, bell pepper squares and cutes of sesame or her-seasoned whole-grain bread (gluten free for me!)

From The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, copyright Jo Stepaniak, reprinted by permission of the author.

Now I want to hear from you!  Let me know if you’ve tried this and what you think.  Also, what would you do with the leftovers, if you have any?

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

Have you had a bad day and now you have to cook dinner?  This is the dinner that will help you feel better as you are cooking it!  The secret is all in the chicken.  If you’re also looking for a dairy free and gluten free recipe this is just what you want.

The first ingredient in this recipe is optional, a glass of wine.  This is for the cook and should not be used until the chicken in cooking in the oven.  This recipe also calls for a new ingredient from Daiya cheese.  They have created wedges of cheese that can be cubed or sliced for your recipes.  I found Cheddar, Jack, and Havarti with garlic and jalapeño peppers.

Those who read this blog often will know I’m not a big fan of buying my food in a package so when I do it’s for a specific purpose.  For this recipe I wanted a little cheese but living dairy and soy free as well as gluten free I needed to use something different.  If you keep these products to a minimum and be very purposeful with them, then you will only be using them once in a while and not every day.

When deciding what to stuff into your wonderful chicken that just helped you de-stress, don’t worry if you don’t have the exact ingredients that I have in the recipe.  You can put just about anything in there.  If I would have had peppers those would have gone in there with some spinach and the cheese.  Or how about a little avocado, bacon or salami and tomato with the cheese for a little west coast flavor.  Use your imagination and what you like and have on hand.

For the coating I like to use my favorite almond flour high in nutrients rather than a low nutrient flour.  Doing this can also keep this recipe Paleo and Primal for those who live within those parameters.    Almond flour will also create a nice little crunch.

So grab a glass of wine and pound the stress out of your day while making a great dinner.

Now I’d like to hear from you. How do you de-stress after a bad day?

Father’s Day is quickly approaching and one thing I know about most dads is they like a good meal.  As the person making the meal I like it to be an easy healthy gluten free recipe.  This recipe is sure to please both plus it’s also dairy free.  First it has sausage and potatoes which I know is a favorite of many guys.  For those making the dish you can have the base created, store it in the refrigerator overnight and when it’s time to serve finish up the topping and it’s good to go.

Now you might be asking how is sausage and potatoes healthy.  First let me say anytime you are into your kitchen cooking from whole ingredients where you can have control over what goes into your food, well you’re going to eat a lot more healthy than just opening a box of something.  Now potatoes, especially organic potatoes, provide a good source of Vitamin C, B6 and Potassium without the pesticides.  As for the sausage, we’ll just keep the portions of that to a respectable size of two links for the entire pie which makes 16 slices.  If you like you can always swap out mushrooms for the sausage.  Of course if you eat the entire pie yourself, well then you’re on your own.

Another way to keep the sausage more to your liking with less fat and filler than the best thing to do is make your own.  I have a few recipes on this site but you might want to  use the Sweet Italian Sausage recipe.

When serving this pie I suggest a nice big green leafy salad with a simple Easy Healthy Gluten Free Salad Dressing.

With this recipe, as with any of my recipes I like to give you options so please read all the way through the recipe.  If you create more options I’d love to hear them so please share.

Disclosure:  I was compensated for creating a recipe for the Idaho® Potato Commission.  All opinions shared are my own.

You can also view this recipe on the Idaho® Potato Blog.

This gluten-free and dairy-free dish of Sautéed Endive, Mushroom and Crisp Pancetta with Wine will melt in your mouth and make your body dance with joy (read on to see why).   It will also have your diners asking for more.  Shhh plus I snuck in a bonus recipe for the Almond Chicken I served this with at dinner.

In fact it was so good I only had time to grab my iPhone to get a picture before it was devoured.  This dish was so fast and easy to make and tasted so amazing that I will be making it many more times for sure.   Maybe the next time I make it I’ll steal some off to my photo table to get more shots.

Let me share just a little about the ingredients before I share the recipe.  Endive might be one of those items you passed over in the grocery store because you were not sure what to do with it.  Let me assure you there are many ways to enjoy endive but more importantly I’m going to give you the reasons why you should give them a try.

Endive are of course low in calories, fat, sodium and cholesterol free.  They are loaded with vitamins and minerals our bodies need such as vitamins B and C, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, folate and selenium.  Plus they are a good source of both beta-carotene and potassium.   If you are looking to have more fiber in your diet and you don’t eat whole grains then endive is a great option since it’s high in complex fibers.  It also aids in digestion including helping to remove toxins from your digestive track.    Are you sold yet?

I love to put them into a pan and sauté or keep them raw and fill them with amazing morsels of shrimp and crab or maybe something as simple as egg salad.  They are really very versatile.  Don’t forget if you are a smoothie or juice goddess like me, toss them into your morning smoothie and get all of those health benefits in your drink.

Mushrooms, especially the Shiitake mushrooms used here are also filled with great health benefits.  Mushrooms are a great source of your B vitamins and minerals such as selenium, copper and potassium.  Mushrooms have been shown to help protect against some cancers and are full of antioxidant power.  But here are my two favorite benefits of mushrooms.  They are one of only a few sources of Vitamin D in real food, not added or fortified.  Plus mushrooms, especially shiitake, oyster and split gill mushrooms contain beta-glucans that have been shown to stimulate immunity in our bodies helping us resist allergies and help in the process to metabolize fats and sugars in our bodies.

So now you see why your body will be doing the happy dance with both endive and mushrooms helping your body stay healthy.  Now this recipe does include pancetta which you can add more or less or even take out completely to keep this a vegetarian and vegan recipe.  Serve this recipe for your best dinner party or your Tuesday night family dinner.   Either way, get these great ingredients on to your plate and into your body.

You may be wondering why this recipe is titled a Dairy Free Chocolate Whipped Cream, Mousse or Icing recipe.  Well first it’s gluten and dairy free because I use coconut milk and make sure all of the other ingredients fit the bill.  Next when you make this recipe you can use it for either whipped cream, a mousse especially if you put it into the refrigerator after you make it or use it as icing on a cake, cupcake, brownie, donut, cake pop, cookie or anything else you want to top with icing. Obviously my favorite is my finger!

This is a fast recipe to make but only if you do the set up.  Everything MUST BE COLD.  That means the bowl and beaters used to whip the coconut milk and the coconut milk itself.

If you follow these simple directions then you will have Chocolate Whipped Cream, Mousse or Icing any time you want it.  Yes I said anytime so be careful.  But of course always keep 2 cans of coconut milk in your refrigerator just in case you need to whip up a batch.  And once you get the hang of this I’m sure you’ll be playing around with flavors.  Maybe you want to add in a different flavor like strawberry or even chocolate mint.  Be creative and experiment.  Please let me know what you create.  Take a picture and send it to me and I’ll happily share it with your name on it.

Now if you want the traditional Vanilla Whipped Cream, here is that recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cans of organic coconut milk 13.5 ounces, full fat not light and not in a carton

1 tsp Mexican Vanilla or any pure vanilla

1/4 cup sweetener, agave, coconut nectar or powdered sugar works well

1/4- 1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder, make sure it’s gluten free (I used Scharffen Berger)

coconut water from milk can

Directions:

Put your coconut milk in the refrigerator for at least 2 days and your bowl and beater for at least 1 hour.

Open the cans of milk and carefully scoop out the solid coconut milk into your mixing bowl leaving the watery liquid behind in the can.

Start your standing mixer on low speed.

Once the coconut milk as started to spread out, add in the vanilla and sweetener.

Once that is combined turn it on medium high and let it start to whip.

Slow your mixer down again and add in the chocolate.  Once the chocolate is combined turn the mixer up to high.

If the cream is two thick you can always add in a little of the coconut water that was left in the can.  It’s really just a matter of the consistency of your whipped cream.  I’ve never had two batches use exactly the same amount of that water.

Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed throughout this process and of course pick who gets to lick the beater and bowl!

If you put this into a bowl and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour it will have more of an icing or mousse consistency.

I want to wish you all a happy Valentine’s Day.  I think it’s probably the one day where more people will touch their food than just fork it.  On this day more people go to their kitchens and cook a meal for the one they love.

They are either preparing a special meal for themselves and maybe someone else too.  Maybe it includes chocolate and strawberries where you have to pick them up to eat or serve them.  Maybe you’re preparing a nice piece of fish with broiled asparagus or seafood ravioli with a lobster sauce (requested in my house).  Whatever it is, as long as you are starting with real food, single ingredient items, well you’ll be touching your food.  In the case of the strawberries also licking your fingers.

This my friends is a wonderful thing.  Get to know what you are eating.  How does it feel?  What does it smell like?  How is it best prepared?  This will go a long way to better health and a better relationship.  Think about it.  Would you be all excited if your special someone opened a frozen TV dinner and served that to you?  Even a box of takeout says you’re only eating because they deliver.  That does not say I love you.  Not to them or to yourself.

Now I’m sure some folks may take offense about this, but I have no problem telling you what I believe in my heart.  Get into the kitchen and touch your food.  Cook real food.  Food without labels. Not frozen meals unless they are your leftovers made into fast meals.   Try to get as much organic if you can but if you are picking and choosing, always check the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15 Lists from EWG.  These are foods that absorb the most toxins from pesticides or the least.  I really don’t think a plate full of pesticides says I love you either.

If you are looking for ideas for a holiday meal, visit my category, Holiday Menu.  If you’re looking to learn some new cooking skills or even how to prepare a specific recipe, check out Rouxbe cooking school videos online (affiliate).  More about this soon but just to let you know they are offering $100 off a year long plan for a full access pass.  If you still need a gift today check it out before midnight tonight.  Also check your local papers for cooking classes near you and go take one.  Grab that special someone and even do it together.

When buying meats look for grass fed beef, no antibiotics or hormones and with fish look for wild caught.  Just be careful of those trick words like Natural, it really doesn’t mean anything.  Look for locally grown or raised and support your neighbors.

Today, and hopefully for the rest of your life, please love yourself and those you feed with healthy foods.  Cook for them, taste how good these wonderful meals you make with fresh ingredients really are.   Touch your food and don’t just say fork it!

My gift to you today is a free lesson on How to Handle a Chef’s Knife.  This is key to getting into the kitchen and cooking.  Just click the video and enjoy!  Much love- Diane

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

This is the easiest pecan pie I have ever made.  After reading Shirley’s Easy Crustless Gluten-Free Peacan Pie I thought I had to give it a try.   I wanted something sweet for my sweetheart but fast and easy for me to make.  I don’t think you have to try and equal the amount of time you spend in the kitchen to how much you love someone.  Just making something scrumptious to eat says I love you.

Thank you Shirley for all the great recipes you create on gluten free easily and showing us how it really can be easy to live gluten free.

There were a few ingredients I either didn’t have or don’t eat from Shirley’s recipe, so I made substitutes and this is what I came up with.  Now some of the changes I made probably made it a little different but everyone who ate the pie loved it.  So, it’s a keeper.  I think the next time I make this I’m going to use either a few small pie tins so I can easily freeze the leftovers or use my muffin pan to make the serving sizes more manageable or I should say controllable.  One can really start digging into this pie with a spoon and the next thing you know you’ve eaten two servings worth, burned your mouth because you didn’t wait for it to cool and you’re running around trying to make it look like you didn’t eat as much.  But I’m sure that will never happen so never mind.

Sometimes when folks serve a Crustless Gluten-Free Pecan and Chocolate Pie they want to top it off with whipped cream.  Go right ahead.  I make a dairy free version from coconut milk.  If you want a little more chocolate you can just add a little cocoa powder right into your whipped cream and use that as your topping for this pie.

Now here is the good part.  Lets say it’s Valentines Day and you’ve made a wonderful dinner.  Before you sit down to eat pop this into the oven.  It will take a little while to cook and then cool but that will give you time for a nice, long, leisurely dinner and maybe a little walk afterwards.  Then you can have this wonderful pie waiting for you.

So what are you going to make for your Valentine?  Check out these gluten-free sites for some great inspiration:

Cook it Allergy Free

Celiacs In The House

Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

The Daily Dietribe

Simply …Gluten-Free

Kalyn’s Kitchen (not a gf site but many of her recipes are or can easily be adapted)

Recipe for Crustless Gluten-Free Pecan and Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

3/4 cup agave (you can leave this out or even sub coconut nectar or honey)

1 cup maple syrup

6 organic eggs whipped

2 TBS non-dairy butter melted (Earth Balance soy free)

2 tsp Mexican vanilla

2 1/2 cups organic pecans

1/4 cup chocolate chips (Enjoy Life GF,DF,SF)

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all the liquid ingredients in a large bowl.  Add in the pecans and pour into a greased deep dish pie plate.  Bake for 50-60 minutes.

As soon as you remove from the oven sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips.  Feel free to add in more if you’re really in that chocolate mood.

Wait until the pie has cooled before digging in.  Trust me on this one.

Keep in mind this is not a low calorie dessert so serve accordingly.

These little Guaco Tacos are easy to make grain free, gluten free and dairy free and are perfect for anytime.  These are great if you have just made your guacamole or if you have some left over from your big game party!  You will absolutely love these.

I first had a version of these little bundles in LA at José Andrés restaurant The Bazaar (review coming soon).  Of course he had a really creamy version of guacamole in his little bundles and they held together like a little pouch.  He added a little crunch into the bottom with some crumbled Fritos.  I tried that and it was good but the secret to the crunch is really in the “shell” so you can keep it grain free by not using them.

So the secret to the crunch is the “shell”.  It’s thinly sliced jicama.  Yep you read that right.  All you need is a way to slice them.  A mandoline or V slicer works great.  They are as much fun to make as they are to eat.  Just in case you don’t eat all the ones you make, they will still be crunchy the next day.  Jicama is a great vegetable to use for this too because they will not discolor.

Now that I’ve shared this little secret can you just imagine all the fun things that can go into thin slices of jicama.  But for these grab your guacamole recipe and lets get started.

Ingredients:

guacamole

jicama peeled and sliced thin

fresh cilantro sprigs

Directions:

After you peel the jicama slice it as thin as you can.

Next I lay out some slices onto a plate and if you want to add in crunched up Fritos do that first.  Then spoon on a teaspoon of guacamole.  You can top each one of these with a sprig of fresh cilantro or just the plate.

Pick it up and shape as a taco or whatever you fancy.

These make a great snack, topping to your favorite Mexican dish or even potato skins.  Let me know how you use them.

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.

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.

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.    (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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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

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 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 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 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.

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.

If you were not a fan of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie from last week because you can’t eat chocolate (what other reason would there be) then you’ll love this gluten and dairy free Deep Dish Coconut Cream Pie.  It’s just as easy and you will definately get more coconut bang for your buck.

This is again another adaptation of Elana Amsterdam’s wonderful recipes.  As many of you know I really don’t like long recipes when it comes to baking and Elana doesn’t have any of those.  I don’t consider myself a baker but I’m starting to now.  Well I have to say that Elana’s Pantry makes such great recipes that even with my shortened baking attention span I can look like a baking rock star.

I also have a secret to share.  Lean in because I’m only going to whisper this once.  Her new Gluten-Free Cupcake Cookbook is on pre-sale for only $9.03.  If I were you I’d jump on that like ants to a picnic.  You never know when they are going to put that price back up to the regular list price.

OK so back to the Coconut Cream Pie.  Make sure when you purchase shredded coconut that you look for the highest quality and make sure it doesn’t have added sugar.  Organic is great.

So first you want to make the crust.  I used the Coconut Pie Crust recipe from Elana’s first cookbook, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.  It’s really great as it adds in coconut to the crust and uses coconut oil.

I then followed her recipe for Chocolate Cream Pie but I didn’t add in any chocolate.  Instead I just kept it vanilla.  Now it didn’t set up as firm as the chocolate but it still works great and tastes amazing.

I used my deep dish pie plate for this recipe as I wanted to capture every drop of filling and topping.

For the topping I added my Coconut Milk Whipped Cream and sprinkled it with toasted coconut.  This is my husband’s favorite pie and I was very happy to make it for him for his 50th birthday.  I’d offer you a slice but he ate it already.

My family loves gluten and dairy free chocolate peanut butter cream pie.  So much so that when I went away for the weekend recently it was requested I make one before I leave.  Since it’s so easy I was happy to do so. I like it because it’s also vegan and grain free. This recipe makes two pies in an 8 inch pie plate or one pie and pudding cups on the side.

I start with Elana’s Pantry Chocolate Cream Pie recipe.  The crust is made with almond flour so you know it’s full of great nutrients and protein.  I double the crust recipe when making this into two pies.

The peanut butter layer was requested by my son.  He loves chocolate and peanut butter together.   I heated the peanut butter and then mix in powdered sugar.  1 Cup of peanut butter and 2 TB of powdered sugar.  Mix them together and smooth into the bottom of the cooked and cooled pie crusts.

Follow the directions for the chocolate cream filling.  If you do not make two pies you will have leftover filling which is basically wonderful pudding.  Put it into cups to eat later.  Or  you can use a deep dish pie plate and make one big pie.  I might have to do this the next time.  Although with two smaller pies we get to enjoy it longer.

I let the pies set up in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.  This of course is the hardest part, the waiting.

As you see if left in the refrigerator without a cover a skin forms on the top just like with any pudding you would make.  If you don’t like that make sure you cover it.

This pie is also great topped with Coconut Milk Whipped Cream or just eat it plain.  Be forewarned, it is really good and it won’t last long.  

If you like pork you are going to LOVE this Mini-Mini Porchetta.  It’s both gluten and dairy free and so full of flavor that your tongue is going to dance all night.

So now you’re asking yourself, what is a porchetta.  Well a porchetta is a wonderful old Italian dish that is pork wrapped in pork.  What could be better than this!  Traditionally it was a whole pig, boned, seasoned, stuffed with pork and cooked over an open fire.  It’s not practical for most of us to cook a whole pig either in our house or our back yard.  Most people will then use pork butts, pork loins with the belly and skin still attached for the mini version or pork loin or a pork tenderloin for the mini-mini version, wrapped in a pork belly.  I like to use the pork tenderloin as it gives you a chance to save a little money and space in the oven.

I saw this wonderful dish in the holiday catalog from Dean & DeLuca.  It comes every year and is filled with wonderful treats.  I saw this and I immediately wanted one.  Theirs cost $75 and I would have no control over what the ingredients were.  So of course I decided to make it.  It cost me less than $20.  I then came across the blog In Danny’s Kitchen.  He had made the mini version of this dish so I had more information to go on.  I used a spice combination similar to his.  He has some great Italian recipes on that blog you should check out.  Keep in mind it’s not a gluten or dairy free blog but by now you’re really good at making those substitutions.  If not, feel free to connect with me and I’ll see if I can help.

There is also a restaurant in NYC called Porchetta.  On their website they share a recipe to make it at home.   That recipe uses just the shoulder with the skin on and does not wrap the pork belly around it.   So you see you have lots of options here.

I love Irish Soda Bread and look forward to St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse to make it.  I’ve not ventured into baking this bread for a few years and I really miss it.  Growing up as a Dougherty I believe I’m obligated.  I think I will just have to grab my son on Thursday and get baking.  Here are some recipes I’ll be choosing from to make.  Let me know if you have or do make any of these breads.  Of course we’ll be starting the day with Green Eggs!

Elana’s Pantry – Irish Soda Bread

Gluten Free Life with Jen – GFCF Irish Soda Bread

Gluten Free Goddess- Irish Soda Bread Love and Spotted Dog

Gluten Free Girl and The Chef – Finnegan, begin again

Simply Sugar and Gluten Free- Irish Soda Bread

Jules Gluten Free- Treacle Tea Cake (aka Irish Soda Bread)

Have a Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Are you ready for Christmas?  It will be here in only 5 days.  Scary to even type that out loud!  If you’re looking for some great things to win, fun things to learn or delicious foods to make, then you came to the right place.   Don’t get comfortable however because I’m going to give you the links to some of the most wonderful people and their blogs.  Many are giving away great gifts and others sharing recipes.

If you happen to get some Christmas Cash or giftcards you’ll want to check out the newest cookbook from Stephanie O’Dea, More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: 200 Brand-New, Budget-Friendly, Slow-Cooker Recipes due out December 28th.  If you have a crockpot or maybe you’re giving one as a gift this year, then this and her first book, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking are great to have on hand.

Don’t forget my favorite cookbook for grain free cooking and baking, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam.

Go check out these blogs!

12 Days of Christmas: Eating Local Cookbook on Wasabiomon!  You could win the cookbook.

Goji Chocolate Pie and Green Lemonade on The Spunky Coconut

Gluten Free Gingerbread House by Simply Gluten-Free

Winners, Gluten-Free Holiday, and Super Short Roundup on gluten free easily

Grain-Free, Nut-Free Snickerdoodles by Alica Cooks

Dairy-Free Buckeyes by Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom

Gingerbread Contest Winners by Cook It Allergy Free

Floppy Broccoli and Wilted Kale by Lexie’s Kitchen

A Gluten-Free Holiday by Ginger Lemon Girl

All-Clad Saucepan Giveaway by Elana’s Pantry

Gluten-Free Coffee Cranberry Pistachio Brownies by Gluten Free For Good

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Sauerkraut by A Year of Slow Cooking

Chai Chocolate Nog Latte by Gluten Free Diva

Gluten Free Menu Swap by Celiacs in the House

Sweet Potato Biscuits by Gluten Free Glugle

Share Our Holiday Table- Bacon Wrapped Turkey Spiedini by Sensitive Pantry

Maple Caramel Corn by The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

Silvana’s Gluten Free Cookie Countdown with amazing giveaways by dish towel diaries

My Favorite Gluten-Free Winter Recipes by Gluten Free Goddess

Gluten Free Cake Pops by Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef

Memorial to My Kitty with gluten free cat food info by Book of Yum

I love making frittatas but I’ve been trying to make them with more vegetables than fat filled ingredients.  I’m using less eggs which creates more of a pizza like dish instead of something more like a quiche.  I even serve it on a pizza paddle.   This is a great dish to make for your holiday breakfast or brunch and one I’ll be sharing for A Gluten-Free Holiday.  Today Carrie at Ginger Lemon Girl is hosting the event spotlighting Holiday Breakfast and Brunch.  You can head there to share your recipes and leave comments for your chance to win

• 4 copies of The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam
• 4 Elana’s Pantry totes
• 2 copies of Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals by Silvana Nardone
• 3 copies of The Gluten-Free Diner e-book by Diane Eblin -yep that would be me
• 3 copies of Gluten Free Breakfast and Brunch by Lori Karavolis

I just need to say how honored I am to have my cookbook as part of a giveaway with two amazing women and their cookbooks.  I’m so lucky to know both Elana and Silvana and you couldn’t meet two more wonderful gals.  They are so smart, talented, have written amazing cookbooks and to boot they’re really nice and what I call good people.  Please make sure you head over and enter to win their cookbook.

Each week there are opportunities to win wonderful cookbooks.  Last week you had that same chance here.  The winners were chosen last night via random numbers.  Carrie has the complete list of winners!

I can’t believe I’m turning into a baker!  I have to say I have a lot of help from people like Kelly at Spunky Coconut.  I’ve adopted her blog this month as part of Book of Yum’s monthly Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger.  This is a fun event that I love to participate in but often get sidetracked and miss the deadline.

So as many of you know I’m hosting a Boxing Day party at my house for my extended family.  One of the desserts I wanted to make for our wonderful British relatives coming is Mincemeat Pies or as they refer to them and Mince!

I needed a good crust that I could both eat and serve to those who eat gluten.  Kelly has a great recipe for a pie crust on her blog and in her cookbook.  I really liked the fact that it combined both almond flour and coconut flour.  I also learned something new about baking powder, it has corn in it!  Yep.  Could be one of those things that is bothering me and I couldn’t figure out the ingredient.  So I used her grain-free corn-free baking powder recipe.

So I got busy making the dough.   After seeing this photo you’ll know why I don’t bake often.  I’m super messy!  I was of course covered in flours and for some reason when I grabbed an open bag of potato flour it spilled down inside my shirt.  Makes a good body powder.

I followed Kelly’s instructions except I used agave instead of Stevia.  Well I changed one more thing too.  Since I was making these mini pies I rolled out the dough and used my bisquit cutter to make circles that I then pushed into my mini muffin pan.  It worked out great.

I ended up with 23 Mince Pies.  I also cheated on the mince filling.  I wanted these to be as British as possible so I picked up a Mincemeat mix from Robertson’s at the British Pantry that is sold in the UK.  It’s very sweet but that’s what mince is right.

I think these came out really well.  I did taste one so now there are only 22 left for company.  After they cooled I promptly put them into the freezer to keep safe until Boxing Day.

So the recipe is very simple.  Use Kelly’s pie crust recipe but don’t pre-bake it.  Grease your tin with coconut oil.  Roll out the dough and cut it into circles and place in each muffin space.  Add an overflowing spoonful of mince mix.  Top it off with a star that you have cut from the pie dough.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  There you have it.  Now if you don’t have a mince mix you can always try one of the following recipes from David Lebovitz and BBC.

I hope you will stop over to visit Kelly at the Spunky Coconut.  She has wonderful recipes and tips on how to live gluten-free, casein-free and sugar free.  You’ll also love her newest cookbook, The Spunky Coconut Grain-Free Baked Goods and Desserts: Gluten Free, Casein Free, and Often Egg Free.  If you have not already read her first cookbook, The Spunky Coconut Cookbook: Gluten Free, Casein Free, Sugar Free, check that out too.

Now before you head on to your day, it’s your last chance to win a cookbook.  Go to my post on Chipolatas and follow the directions.  Your chance ends at 10pm ET tonight, December 8th.

Well I missed the first of December with my monthly menu but I’m going to make up for it with sharing some different combinations that you may or may not have tried before.  I’m guessing things are probably busy around your house too so first thank you for taking time to stop by and see what I’m sharing.   I hope you take a few minutes to write out a menu for the week or month or just use mine.  It will help avoid frustrating evenings.  Don’t forget with all the hustle and bustle to try to eat more vegetables and fruits than those tasty desserts and spirits.  If you are heading out to parties eat a good salad before you go and make sure you’re not hitting their front door starving.  That is a recipe for over indulging and possibly eating something that is not safe for you.

I hope you all have a wonderful month of December.  Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating.

Don’t forget A Gluten-Free Holiday is open until December 8th at 10pm.  Head to that post and share your favorite Hanukkah and Christmas Entrees and Side Dishes.  You can use the linky provided to link your blog post.  Make sure you leave a comment and follow the other options to be entered into the drawing for some wonderful cookbooks.  Shauna and Danny Ahern are giving away their new cookbook, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef and Shauna’s first book, Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back…And How You Can Too.  Ricki Heller is sharing her cookbooks, Sweet Freedom: Desserts You’ll Love without Wheat, Eggs, Dairy or Refined Sugar, Dessert Without Compromise, and Anti-Candida Feast Book.

December Menu as always, gluten and dairy free

1 Pancakes (Elana’s Pantry)  with Chipolatas and a fruit salad

2  Crab cakes, sweet potato fries, peas

3  Braised Short Ribs with Green beans

4  Veggie stuffed fritrata- spinach, mushroom, onions, potatoes topped with crispy prosciutto

5  Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls Stew (I added a little worcestershire sauce)

6  Trout, green beans, quinoa and romaine salad

7  Sweet potato and Chorizo Soup (Jamie Oliver) and a large salad

8  Birthday dinner!  Spatchocked Lemon Rosemary Chicken, Zucchini fritter, Broccoli, Roasted Potatoes

9  Dairy free ground beef roll up (similar to Danny’s Kitchen)

10  Spaghetti with chicken meatballs

11  Bacon wrapped Cod with roasted leeks, thyme and rosemary

12  Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad with Spiced Shrimp Salad

13  Cod Cakes, dark green salad, sweet potato fries

14  Roasted Chicken thighs with tomatoes, potatoes and sausage and a large salad

15  Quick fry pork chops with roasted vegetables

16  Winter Salad (Jamie Oliver)

17  Chickpea Veggie Pizza

18 Ginger and Parsnip Soup (Jamie Oliver), and a big salad

19  Salmon Cakes, black beans, kale salad

20  Sausage and pepper potato hash with spinach

21 Hamburgers, french fries, and peas

22  Chicken roll-ups stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, and caramelized onions with Cauliflower Rice

23 leftovers

24 Christmas Eve- mushroom and spinach lasagna, whole roasted Salmon, beef brisket,  roasted potatoes- white and red garnet yams with onions and garlic, and a fennel salad with pistachio pesto

25 Christmas- Spatchcocked turkey, Pancetta Sage Sausage Stuffing, spinach salad, macaroni & cheese, roasted cauliflower and broccoli

26 Boxing Day Party- Lunch- Fire Roasted Tomato Soup, Six Onion Soup, Italian Wedding Soup, Seven Minute Egg Salad and Pasta Salad, BBQ beef, hummus with cucumbers, celery, carrots,and peppers.

Trail mix- roasted chickpeas, seasoned pecans, almonds, raisins, cranberries, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, chocolate chips

Dinner- Chipolatas, Ham, Turkey, Mac & Cheese, Lasagna, Carrot Soldiers and Scotch Stovies (Jamie Oliver), Kale Salad with mango, pomegranate and pumpkin seeds, and roasted brussel sprouts with bacon.

Desserts for the holidays- Captain Jack’s Chocolate Rum Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies (Elana’s Pantry), Brownies, Twisted Chocolate Bark, and Mincemeat Pies

27 Leftovers

28 Leftovers

29 Leftovers

30 Leftovers

31 New Year’s Eve- Organic Black Bean Pasta with Lobster, Shrimp, Scallops with a Black Garlic wine sauce.

This was shared on OrgJunkie.

Welcome to our Gluten-Free Holiday Celebration.  I’m so glad you could visit.

A Gluten-Free Holiday is off to a wonderful start! Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs kicked us off with tips to stay healthy during the holidays and shared some delicious truffles. Then, Shirley at Gluten-Free Easily shared a no-fail pie crust recipe and we linked our Thanksgiving favorites.  Last week Alta from Tasty Eats at Home got us thinking about Gifts of Good Taste.  She shared her Macadamia Almond Brittle and Pistachio Coconut Macaroons.  Hopefully by now you are aware that each week there are tons of great cookbooks given away.  Check out below and see which really amazing cookbook authors want to give you their books. Next week visit Carrie at Ginger Lemon Girl for Holiday Breakfasts and Brunch.

So far there have been 106 recipes shared with this event!  I’d love to see that number hit 150 by Wednesday so please join in and let others know.

Congratulations to last week’s winners:

Winners of Kelli and Peter Bronski’s Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking:

Mommaladybug at mommaladybug.wordpress.com

Genie at glutenfreeandloving.com

Winners of Jules E Dowler Shepherd’s Free For All Cooking:

Valerie at CityLifeEats.com

Priscilla at myswaddlebabies.com

Suzanne at thruthebugsonmywindshield.wordpress.com

Catherine at shiara@gmail.com

JoHanna B at rawkansas.blogspot.com

This week I’m honored to host your Favorite Christmas and Hanukkah Entrees and Side Dishes.  Now I realize we just cleaned up from Thanksgiving, but Hanukkah has started and Christmas is only 23 days away.  So now is the time to get planning and test cooking those dishes.

I’ve been playing with some new recipes that include favorites for Christmas from England.  I’m so excited this year to be hosting a Boxing Day Celebration with some relatives from Lincolnshire.  Tony has informed me that the best sausages come from Lincolnshire.  Well since he can’t bring them with him, and they’re probably not gluten free, I’m working on my version of the favorite Chipolatas.  I did find some resources for gluten free sausages in UK, The Black Farmer which sound great.

I also found a few blogs from the UK for gluten free living:  UK Gluten Free, I’m Gluten Free Baby, Free From Gluten,  Wheat Free Living, Nonni’s Table or UK Coeliac, and the Coeliac UK site.  You have already heard me talk about Straight to Bed Cake Free and Dried but check it out again.

But I digress, so back to the sausages!

This version can be made two ways.  You can either start with my PancettaSage Sausage recipe or use the one I’m sharing here.  Now most of the recipes I’ve seen for sausage in the UK uses rusk or what we call bread crumbs.  Not something I’m that keen on using even if it’s gluten free.  So I don’t add that ingredient.

While researching chipolatas I found that for the holidays there are two key things to be added, sage and bacon.

So here is my US/VA version of the UK Chipolatas.

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh ground organic pork

1/2 tsp granulated onion

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp mace

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

2-3 TBS rubbed sage

1/2 cup very cold water

Fresh Sage leaves for each sausage link

Slice of bacon for each sausage link

Directions:

If you like to save money buy a Pork Butt and grind it yourself.  If you don’t have a meat grinder attachment no problem, you can get ground pork at the market.  You can also get the pork butt at the grocery and ask them to rough grind it once for you.  One more reason to get to know your butcher.

Mix the remaining ingredients on the list down to the water into the pork.  To make sure everything is combined really well after the initial mix, I toss it all into the food processor.  Don’t over process it or you’ll have pork soup.  If you pulse just enough to work the seasonings into all of the pork.

Now if you happen to get some sausage casings and have that attachment to your mixer than start making your sausage.  I don’t have that attachement and prefer to roll my sausages by hand with no casings.

Because I do these by hand they will not look like the traditional long thin chipolatas but they taste great.

These are mild sausages so if you like to taste more of the seasonings double the amounts of seasonings called for in the recipe.

Now to cook these sausages for the holidays you’ll want to add a couple more items.   Take each sausage and place a fresh sage leaf on top and then wrap the whole thing with a slice of bacon.  Lay them on the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Place into a 400 degree preheated oven and cook until the bacon is crisp which should be enough time for the sausages to cook too.  This should take approximately 20 minutes.  WARNING:  Your house will smell amazing and will draw people from every room.

Now it’s your turn to share your favorite Christmas and Hanukkah Entrees and Side Dishes by using the link at the bottom of this post.

This contest is now closed.  Thank you to all who participated.  Please head over to Ginger Lemon Girl to see who won!

It’s also your turn to get a gift from one of these authors.  They have graciously offered to give you a copy of their cookbook if your comment number is randomly selected. (only shipping in the US for non e-books)  How do you get a number?  Try this To Do List but don’t delay, it’s over on December 8th!

You can do any or all of the following things just leave a comment for each one:

- Link up your gluten-free entree or side dish recipe via the linky at the bottom of this post and leave a comment telling me what you’ve shared.

- Follow @thewholegang on Twitter and leave a comment here saying that you did.

- Post about this roundup on your blog or Facebook and leave me a comment here telling me you did.

- Subscribe to The W.H.O.L.E Gang in a reader or in email, and leave a comment here telling me you did.

- Subscribe to The W.H.O.L.E. Gang Newsletter and leave me a comment here telling me you did.

- Like The W.H.O.L.E. Gang on Facebook and leave me a comment here telling me you did.

-Friend me on Facebook and leave me a comment here telling me you did.

- If by chance you have already read or purchased a copy of either book, leave an Amazon review for the book and leave a comment here telling me you did.

- Tweet about this roundup using @thewholegang and our event hashtag, #GFHoliday and leave a comment here saying that you did.

Leave a comment each time you do something on this to do list.  Don’t leave one comment with a list of things you did, that only gives you one number and one chance!  One comment for each way you share this event.

Gifts they are giving:

1 copy of Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back…And How You Can Too by Shauna James Ahern

1 copy of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef by Shauna James Ahern & Daniel Ahern

1 copy of Sweet Freedom: Desserts You’ll Love without Wheat, Eggs, Dairy or Refined Sugar by Ricki Heller

3 copies of these e-book trios: 1 copy of Sweet Freedom, 1 copy of Desserts without Compromise, 1 copy of Anti-Candida Feast Book

Leave your comments so these authors will know you are serious and would love the gift of their book. The more ways you share the more chances you have in winning.

I hope you all will have a wonderful holiday season.

Time to Link up!  Don’t forget to add a note to the recipe you are linking from your blog that you have shared it here.  Thank you.

What could be better than chocolate and rum?  Maybe a good looking pirate to share them with!

Grab your pirate and enjoy a plate of these little treasures.  Well, you might want to share it with the whole crew because this recipe makes 48 cookies.

I’m really excited to be sharing this cookie recipe with you.   They never would have come to be if it wasn’t for Silvana.

Silvana Nardone from Dish Towel Diaries and author of Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals contacted me about her Gluten-Free Holiday Cookie Countdown.  31 Days, 31 Recipes and 31 Gifts.  It sounded like fun and I said I would love to join.  I’m always up for fun!  Then I started thinking that I don’t really bake very often.  Right now grains are giving me trouble so what was I going to bake with and what was I going to make that was different.  I started to panic.

I first went to Silvana’s new cookbook which I think is great.  She has a great all purpose flour mixture but unfortunately it had ingredients I couldn’t eat.

So on to Plan B.  I always have almond flour in the refrigerator because I often cook from Elana Amsterdam’s The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.  We bake scones of all types and a lot of her chocolate chip cookies.

So with that in mind I thought I could build or change her chocolate chip recipe to create something new.  If you are looking for her original recipe go to page 98 of her book.

If you can’t eat almonds head to Silvana’s flour blend recipe in the front of her cookbook.  Either way you’re in cookies!

I had recently pulled out our few liquior bottles to inventory for our holiday party.  The rum was sitting there so I of course thought I would soak some raisins in the rum.   If nothing else I would have a great snack.

From there I grabbed some spices from my cubbard and started mixing.  I couldn’t resist and had to taste the cookie dough to see if I was on the right path.  That was my first mistake.  It was really good.  I could have just sat there with a spoon and gone to town.  But that would not leave me with any cookies to photograph and after all this had all started with saying I would share this recipe with Silvana.

So I popped them into the oven to cook, moved them to the rack to cool and yep didn’t wait.  I burnt my tongue tasting the hot cookies.  I thought they tasted great so I let them cool and stacked them up for their beauty shot.

So far everyone who has tasted them has loved these cookies and the only request was for more rum in the cookies.  I will say I only let the raisins soak for 2-3 hours and they needed more time.  The longer they soak the more rum they will absorb.  I have raisins soaking as I type so I can make more cookies this week.

The last step of this adventure was to give these cookies a name.  When anyone mentions rum to me the first thing I think about is Captain Jack Sparrow played in the movies by the incredibly sexy Johnny Depp.  I think he would like these cookies and I’d love to send him a tin for the opening of the next movie- Pirates of the Caribbean  On Strangers Tides opening May 20, 2011. (if you have a connections let me know)

So I’m very happy to share this recipe with Silvana’s Gluten-Free Holiday Cookie Countdown.  Head there now to leave a comment for your chance to win!  Make sure you go back to Dish Towel Diaries each day for a new recipe and a chance to win a gift.  Today she is featuring this recipe and giving away my cookbook.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that all you food was delicious and safe for you to eat.  Now we head into the home stretch for Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s Eve!  I thought I would share what some other bloggers have cooking for you.

First I have to make sure you are here this week for my new cookie recipe I created to participate in Silvana Nardone’s Cookie Exchange.  It’s virtual so you don’t want to miss it. Starting on Wednesday December 1st, head over to Dish Towels Diaries where you can grab some new cookie recipes and be entered to win a cookbook!  Could be mine, Silvana’s or another great one just waiting for you.  Visit Who’s Your Baker page for a listing of the really cool cooks participating.

Now Thursday you don’t want to miss.  I will be the host this week for A Gluten-Free Holiday, read up on all the details.  The theme is Holiday Entrees and Side Dishes.  This is where you link up your recipes, leave comments and share the event to be entered to win.  I will have 6 cookbooks for you to win.  Don’t miss out.  Stop back on Thursday to see how you could win.

You can still stop by Tasty Eats at Home to be entered into the last hosts drawing for the great cookbooks she’s giving away for A Gluten-Free Holiday.

If you are a fan of Gingerbread houses and iPod touches visit Kim at Cook It Allergy Free. Get cooking so you can enter by December 9th.  It’s pretty straight forward and it might not even involve cooking!

Now if you are frugal and want to win a beautiful set of Holiday Cookware visit Alisa at Alisa Cooks.  Enter her Holiday Naturally Frugal Food Challenge.  Create an entree based on whole, healthy ingredients and at least one Holiday seasonal ingredient, ie., cranberries, pumpkin, etc. Your entree must feed four adults with a maximum cost of $10.00.  But you need to hurry the deadline is November 30th!

One more not to be missed is Share Our Strength’s Share Our Holiday Table which kicks off December 6th.  This is a virtual, progressive fundraising dinner designed to raise awareness of child hunger in the U.S. during the critical holiday season.  There are tons of bloggers participating and yours truly will be sharing on December 13th.

I’m sure there are more that I missed.  Please feel free to get me caught up in all the holiday food and contests.

Now for the Joy!  I hope that each of you takes time to experience the joy squeezed in between all the hustle and bustle.  Stop to smell what you have baking in the oven before you run around cleaning up.  Take the time to thank those who have impacted your life this year and watch the joy spread across their faces.  It will wash over you too.

Have a wonderful week and start to Hanukah.  Joy to everyone!

This post was inspired by a few people I’ve run into at the grocery store over the past week.  They were purchasing products for the first time to cook something gluten free for Thanksgiving guests.  We had many great conversations but really how much can you say in 2 minutes in the grocery isle.

I asked some fellow gluten free bloggers for their advice when cooking for gluten free guests.  Where noted you will see tips from the following bloggers: Tia from Glugle Gluten Free, Ellen from I am Gluten Free, Heidi Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom and Kim at Cook It Allergy Free.  Please check out their blogs for great gluten free foods.  Kim also has a great iPhone app for cooking allergy free that is very handy.

Pancetta Sage Sausage Gluten Free Stuffing

First gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye and uncertified gluten free oats.  Oats are usually cross contaminated unless they are certified gluten free.  When buying foods with labels you also want to stay away from spelt, malt, durum, soy sauce, and more.  When serving spirits, not all alcohol is gluten free, especially beer.  There are gluten free beers available now such as Bard’s Tale Beer and Redbridge Beer.  Here is a listing on gluten free alcohol.

Check with your guest to see if they have other intolerances to foods that they cannot eat.  For instance I cannot eat dairy or rice which is often a go to grain for those living gluten free.  You can see why I don’t eat over people’s houses unless they allow me to bring food.  It’s a lot to ask someone who cooks gluten all the time in their kitchen and then add in the dairy and rice as off limits.

So if you are going to cook for a gluten free guest what are some things you need to think about?  Here’s some thoughts.

1. If after reading this you are still unsure about some of the topics covered or recognize some of your kitchen practices don’t match up, don’t cook for your gluten free guests.  We would rather bring a dish to eat than take a chance on getting sick.  For me if I’m accidentally given gluten I’m sick for 5-7 days.  The point of gathering together is to spend time together, does it really matter who cooked the food?

2.  If you are preparing gluten free food for gluten free guests or family members, make no assumptions. Educate yourself, ask questions, make sure you are thoroughly knowledgeable about how to prepare the food so that your gluten free diners can safely eat it.- Ellen

3. Pay close attention to possible contamination sources:  Wooden spoons, cast iron pans, and cutting boards can trap hidden gluten particles –  go for stainless and glass utensils and bakeware.  If possible, try and use a glass plate to cut your items for this meal.- Kim

Cleaning those items Kim mentioned in hot water will not remove the gluten, even in a dishwasher.  Once gluten gets into those surfaces it’s there for good.  If you have non-stick pans and they get a scratch, which happens after the first use, then the gluten seeps into those scratches and it cannot be washed out.

4.  When you are cooking are you a double dipper?  Do you take your measuring cup from the flour to the sugar?  If so you just cross contaminated your sugar. What about your butter?  Do you spread it on your toast and go back for more?  Cross contamination.  What about Crisco, peanut butter, jelly, or mayonnaise? Do you only have one cutting board you use for everything?  If so it’s time to change that routine for many reasons.  The same goes for any other food that you put a spoon, knife or fork into to take some out.  If you have purchased a gluten free pie mix think about any of the above ingredients you may need to add and make sure you are using new sugar or new butter.

5.  What about when you are cooking?  Do you mix you stuffing and then stir your potatoes or anything else?  If you do that is cross contamination.

6.  Watch out for condiments.  Make your gluten-free guests their own containers for butters, jams, mayonnaise, nut butters, etc. A knife that has just been used on a gluten-filled slice of bread and then placed back into a condiment jar or bowl, can leave enough crumbs and contamination to make someone who is gluten-sensitive very ill.- Kim

7.  Please don’t stuff the bird. And make sure to baste with something simple and gluten-free, such as butter, water, etc. Or, follow Kim’s fabulous method on her blog. Her turkey and baste sound scrumptious.  -Tia

8.  When purchasing a ham or turkey make sure it’s gluten free.  Some turkeys are injected with gluten filled liquids.  Pre-made gravies will most likely have flour-gluten.  When making your gravy use corn starch or arrow root.  These two items are great at thickening your gravy.

9.  If you are serving a meal that will include gluten free guests, set aside a separate place in your serving area where the gluten free foods will be served. Ask your gluten free guests to bring a sign that says that this food is gluten free and must only be taken with the designated utensils on this table used for this gluten free food. I would suggest that it be out of the reach of children who might unknowingly reach for some of the food with gluten-filled hands or use gluten-filled utensils. You can’t be too careful. -Ellen

Perhaps have the gluten ones and gluten-free ones at opposite ends of the table to try to avoid cross contamination. -Tia

I learned a tough lesson last year at the mixed menu Thanksgiving dinner​ I attended.  W​hile every precaution was made to separate the gluten from the gluten-free, there was still a mix up and my husband brought me a slice of gluten-filled ​pumpkin pie.  And I ate it all.  This year, I will be making little “Certified GF” stickers to adhere to cupcake picks then will stick one in each slice of GF pie.  I don’t even care if it looks silly. -Heidi

10.  Call your gluten-free guest and ask them if they would like to bring something. Or even help with the meal if they would feel more comfortable knowing what was going on.

11.  Don’t assume something is gluten free.  Read the labels carefully.  If you are not sure, don’t use it or serve it to someone who is gluten free.  The more whole foods or real food or whatever you want to call fresh fruits, vegetables and organic meats you use, the easier it is to start with gluten free foods.  Then, keep them that way.

12.  If you find gluten free rolls, don’t bake them with the gluten filled ones.  If they touch that’s cross contamination.

If you have questions email me (click the envelope at the top right corner of blog) or leave a comment.  I’ll keep checking even some on Thanksgiving.  I’ll try to help you best I can.  But if you are unsure about anything, let your guest bring their food.

If you have any tips please add them in the comments section.  Thank you!

If you are looking for some great gluten free recipes  and a few more tips you might want to check these:

Ultimate Thanksgiving Prep Series Cook It Allergy Free

Recipe Round Up Go Dairy Free-  This is a dairy free site with a long list of recipes.  Not all are gluten free so look for the ones that say gluten free.

Thanksgiving Round up gluten free easily

5 Tips for a Safe Gluten Free Thanksgiving gluten free easily

Gluten Free Stuffing The WHOLE Gang

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Meal Plan The WHOLE Gang

Creamy Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes The WHOLE Gang

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Elana’s Pantry

Crescent Rolls and Cinnamon Rolls-Gluten, Dairy and Egg Free Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Simply Gluten-Free

Gluten Free Thanksgiving gluten free girl

Cooking for People We Love Who Cannot Eat Gluten gluten free girl

Giving Thanks The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

Gluten Free For Good

Book of Yum

Tasty Eats at Home

Celiacs in the House

Lexie’s Kitchen

The Spunky Coconut

Ginger Lemon Girl

The Sensitive Pantry

A Year of Slow Cooking

Wasabimon

Happy Thanksgiving!

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This Twisted Chocolate Bark recipe has a secret.  It’s full of nuts, seeds and legumes!  Yes I said legumes.  I’ve been playing with different ways to use my Roasted Chickpeas in more ways than just eating them by the handful.  Of course the hardest part is they are so amazing eating them by the handful you have to be intentional and set some aside for other uses.   Or you can always make a double batch which is what I do.

The great part about this recipe is there is no measuring.  I know, blasphemy.  How can you have a recipe with no measuring.  Well trust me this will will work no matter what.  How could it go wrong with chocolate as the base.

The key is in the prep.  You of course have to first make the Roasted Chickpeas.  This is where you can really change up the flavorings of your Twisted Chocolate Bark by changing the seasonings you bake into the chickpeas.  You can use just plain salt, maybe a little cinnamon, how about some cayenne pepper so your chocolate will have a kick.  Maybe you want to toss it in a little cinnamon and achiote for that Mayan twist.  I’ve used my Turkish blend as well and they tasted great on the chocolate.

You can also use that same principal with what you add to the top of your chocolate bark.  Think about your favorite combinations.  You could use some of Ali’s Candied Walnuts or Hallie’s Spiced Maple Pecans instead of plain ones.  Maybe you want to drizzle a little honey (like the kind Shirley makes) on top or some gluten and dairy free caramel from Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom.   If you like to make your own Home Made Marshmallows try Carol’s recipe from Simply Gluten-Free.

Here is my Twisted Chocolate Bark that I made yesterday.  The fun thing is, it’s never the same twice.  You may not see all of these ingredients on this bark, but these are my favorite ones to use.

Ingredients:

Chocolate to melt for base (Enjoy Life chocolate chips used here, gf, df, soy free)

Turkish apricots diced

organic raisins

dried blueberries

dried cranberries

pitted dated diced

pistachios

organic pepitas

organic sunflower seeds

almonds

raw cashews

pecans broken into pieces

walnuts

hazelnuts

marshmallows

roasted chickpeas

course sea salt

Directions:

Really, do you need directions?  It seems silly to give directions to a non-recipe but I gave ingredients so lets keep it balanced.

OK, melt the chocolate and pour it out onto parchment paper.  Toss on your toppings, make sure you press them into the chocolate and then let cool to set up.  Break up into pieces and then try not to eat them all at once.  Good luck.

PRIZES read on.

This recipe is being shared on Tasty Eats at Home as part of A Gluten-Free Holiday.  You can gather and give your recipes for Gifts of Good Taste.  There will also be lots of giveways so make sure you leave a comment on her post. She’s giving away 5 copies of  Free for All Cooking: 150 Easy Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly Recipes the Whole Family Can Enjoy and 2 copies of Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking: More than 250 Great-tasting, From-scratch Recipes from Around the World, Perfect for Every Meal and for Anyone on a Gluten-free Diet–and Even Those Who Aren’t.

Alta is sharing these two great looking gifts of Macadamia Almond Brittle and Pistachio Coconut Macaroons.

After I had taken photos of my bark I just couldn’t decide which ones to share, so I thought I would share a few in this video.  It’s paired with a favorite song of mine back from when I used to teach Jazzercise.  Enjoy.

Twisted Chocolate Bark

I made this easy recipe for gluten free Roasted Squash and Mushroom Penne Pasta for  Thanksgiving last year.  This version had dairy but you can make it dairy free too or even add in some sausage if you don’t want it to be vegetarian.  It’s all about options and easy Thanksgiving meals.  One option I like with this dish is you can make it ahead of time and finish the cooking when you are ready to serve, even the next day.

Recently Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen posted a recipe for Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms with Thyme and Parsley.  You could also start with that recipe and add pasta.  I think that is exactly what I’ll be doing this year for our vegetarian main dish.

As you see below I started with caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms.  I love the flavor of a caramelized onion in a dish and Scott said he’ll eat anything that I tell him has caramelized onions.   That’s how I got him to taste this dish last year.

I like having Tinkyada Organic Brown Rice Penne, 12-Ounce Packages (Pack of 12)
in my pantry.  It can be made into so many different dishes because it holds up pretty well when cooked.

Shirley's Cushaw Peacon Pie

I will be sharing this dish over at Shirley’s gluten free easily website for this week’s edition of A Gluten-Free Holiday.  You’ll want to visit her site to share your favorite Thanksgiving recipes and enter to win one of the cookbooks being given away.  This week it’s Make It Fast Cook It Slow which I have and love  and The Spunky Coconut from the blog with the same name!  I wonder who are the lucky winners from week 1!  Check out the entire schedule for this event. Don’t forget you want to visit Shirley’s blog and leave a comment and find out all of the ways to be entered for those great cookbooks.  Don’t forget the cool #GFHoliday if you are tweeting!

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash cut into cubes

1 large onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 tsp olive oil

2 portobello mushrooms sliced

8 oz cremini mushrooms sliced

8 oz shitake mushrooms sliced

1 cup Soup, Creamy Portobello Mushroom, 32 oz.- this contains soy but not dairy

2 fresh sage leaves sliced

1/2 tsp fresh parsley chopped

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Parmesan cheese

1 box gluten free penne pasta

Directions:

Coat the squash, garlic and onion in olive oil and roast in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30-45 min or until the squash has softened.

Slice mushrooms and saute in pan with a little oil.  While those are cooking, cook your pasta and drain.

You can prepare this dish up til this point and finish cooking it later in the day or even the next day.

Mix pasta, mushrooms, squash, garlic, onions, seasonings and mushroom soup.  I added the squash around the edges but you can mix it all the way through.  Bake in oven for 20 minutes covered, sprinkle with cheese, keep uncovered and bake 10-15 min more.

OK, that sounds funny even to me.  Dairy Free Cheese Crisps.  They happen to be gluten and soy free too.  So what do you use to make a gluten, soy and dairy free cheese crisp…. Daiya Cheese of course.

There are only a few things I miss in the dairy world and with the help of Daiya cheese I can get a few of them back.  One thing I used to serve with soups, salads, chili and my fingers were cheese crisps.

These are so easy to make it seems silly to even give you a recipe but I’m guessing you’ll want to know how so you can be eating these little gems tonight.  To be fair I have to give my kids credit on this.  My oldest decided we should try to make them in a frying pan.  DON’T do that.  It sticks and it can be a bugger getting that off.  My youngest started to experiment while making pizzas and the cheese missed the pizza and so we had it.  Well almost, they still needed a little seasoning.

Ingredients:

Daiya Cheese Shreds 8 oz.
- either cheddar or mozzarella

sea salt

foil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Cover your tray with foil and place teaspoon size piles of cheese on top.  You can also make them larger or smaller.  You pick!  You just want to give them a little space in between.

Bake for 10-14 minutes.  It really depends on how much cheese you pile up and your oven.  After 10 minutes keep a close eye on them.  You will want them to brown but not be totally dark.  They make that shift in a blink of an eye.

The ones pictured here have melted and started bubbling but have not browned.

When you take them out of the oven sprinkle with sea salt right away.

If you want to roll the larger ones around a spoon handle you had better do it really fast. You have about 30 seconds before it will break instead of bend. I’ve only done this once around a metal handled spoon.  I wouldn’t recommend wooden but plastic should work.

Notes:

If you want to add to the flavor these taste great with a mix of ancho pepper, adobo, salt and cayenne pepper lightly sprinkled on top.  It’s a nice little kick for your cheese crisp when using it to top your 3, 2, 1 Chili.  (recipe coming this week)

For a festive look you can mix the two cheeses together.

These also make great crackers so feel free to top them off and serve them as canapes!

I think for Christmas I’ll try sprinkling them with chives and red pepper flakes for a kick or sweet paprika for a more mild option while they are still bubbling.

Brad says he thinks the mozzarella tastes the best.  Let me know what you think.

Oh yeah, if you’re coming to my house for the holidays you will be snacking on these.  I found out they keep really well without losing their crisp.

This was shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

I’m finally back to working on my monthly menus instead of just the weekly ones.  I still find that this is the easiest and best way for me to save a lot of money and time.  Two things I never seem to have enough of especially at this time of the year.  A monthly menu only takes 5 minutes longer than a weekly one to create.  As I was checking to see how many weeks were in November so I could print my menu planning worksheets, I decided to count up December too and print them all out.  There are only 9 weeks left in this year.  Yikes.  Only 9 weeks and a list that would take much longer to finish.

So what’s a girl to do? Plan, Plan, Plan and reward those who do (keep reading).

Now I know to some of you this sounds crazy.  How do you have time to plan out a monthly menu when you don’t even plan a weekly menu?  It sounds too rigid!  Too much information?  Your life is too unpredictable!  I’m sure you are coming up with your own excuses and reasons right now.  Actually, what are they?  I’d love to hear them and help show you how to overcome them.

OK, so I’m going to ask you to stick with me here. Read to the end to find out how getting past this can win you a prize!

If you are hosting company for Thanksgiving this month I’m guessing you’re not going to serve up hamburgers and fries.  Last year I shared some tips on How to Cook Your Thanksgiving Meal Without Going Crazy.  This comes with my entire meal and the work needed to serve that meal on a worksheet.

With such a big meal coming this month and next month, take time to plan out what you’ll be eating the rest of the days.  Make the meals leading up to the big day easy and even ones you could re-purpose or just reheat and eat.  Also plan on what you’ll do with the leftovers from your big meal.

Start by checking in your cabinets, pantry, freezer and refrigerator.  Use The W.H.O.L.E. Gang Kitchen Inventory 2010 or your own list.  Leading up to the big meal is a great time to cook up food you already have on hand so you’ll have room in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry when needed.  Also, if you already have a couple of cans of organic pumpkin, don’t buy it now.  Wait for it to go on sale and use what you have first.  Now if you have 5 jars of poultry seasoning or pumpkin pie spice and you check the dates and they are all older than a year, toss them.  Using the freshest possible herbs and spices will always make a difference.

Now that you know what you have on hand start by adding the proteins to your menu.  You can write your menu on your calendar or use The WHOLE Gang Weekly Menu 2010.  Then add in the side dishes by incorporating what’s in season and what’s in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry.  If you get into the habit of doing this every month you can just keep using your food inventory and adjust to the amounts on hand.  I always use a pencil when working with both the inventory and menu planner.

Don’t forget before you start adding food options to your menu planner that you look at the calendar and add events.  School sports, banquets, plays, class events, business trips, holiday shopping trips, and company arriving.  Anything that will take up your time in either preparing your meal or when yo get to eat it.  If you do this you’ll save the money that would be spent grabbing something on the go and the aggravation of being all ready to bake that pumpkin pie and not have any cinnamon on hand.

So how important do I think having a menu plan is.  If you send me your Monthly Menu Plan for November by the end of the week you will be entered in a drawing.  Prizes available will be a $25 gift card, The Gluten-Free Diner Cookbook and a 15 minute phone consultation with me.

How to enter:

1. Email me your menu plan for November and make sure your name is on the menu.  I will print out the menus and draw 3 out of the pile.  If you don’t do this first step, you are not entered to win. You cannot just copy and email me my menu and say it’s yours.  I seriously doubt you have the same foods in your freezer as I do in mine.

Once you’ve sent me your menu, you can also have more opportunities to win by doing the following:

• Tweet a link to this post and let people know they can win by sharing their monthly menu plan.  You must come back here and leave me a comment letting me know that you tweeted.
• Leave a comment here on what you have used as a reason/excuse for not making a menus in the past.  or
• Leave a comment on your tip for menu planning.

Entries due by Saturday November 6th, the drawing will take place on Sunday November 7th.

I’d love to hear if this is your first monthly menu plan too.

Ok, now here is my menu plan for the month.  You may notice some things that are different than I usually make and a bit more British.  I’m getting in some practice for our Boxing day event where lots of family will be here including relatives from London.  I’m very excited and I’m looking to one of my favorite chefs, Jamie Oliver for a little guidance.

1- mushroom and wild rice bake

2- quick fry pork chops, applesauce, and peas

3- Italian wedding soup

4- BBQ turkey legs in the crockpot and kale salad

5- pesto crusted cod, polenta squares and zucchini spears

6- veal scallopini, cremini mushrooms, cippolini onions, and risotto with asparagus

7- London broil, baked potato, and roasted broccoli

8- English onion soup with Daiya cheese crsips and romaine salad

9- Boeuf Bourguignon Burger with potatoes and green beans

10- chicken breasts with Orange Pecan Wild Rice and a spinach salad

11- pork roast with roasted leeks and bacon, baked red garnet yams

12-  leftovers

13- Scallop Pasta with Chorizo, tri-leaf salad

14- roasted chicken with Scotch Stovies and peas

15- Duck Burgers with Simple Asian Slaw

16- baked Sole with roasted fennel, potatoes, asparagus and harricot verts

17- turkey ham with Sticky Sauce Carrots and spinach salad

18- Hogwarts favorites to include homemade chipolatas and chocolate frogs, for more check out Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free at Hogwarts (I’m heading to the midnight screening of The Deathly Hallows)

19- shrimp and quinoa with roasted vegetables

20- hearty roasted vegetable soup

21- leftovers

22- meatloaf, peas, parsley potatoes

23- oven roasted cranberry buffalo sausage, potatoes, leeks, and tomatoes

24- tomato soup and zucchini fritters

25- Thanksgiving menu

26- egg bake with hashbrowns, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and half with feta cheese

27- leftovers

28- pot roast with root vegetables and a salad

29- teriyaki salmon with stirfry vegetables and rice

30- Mediterranean Tuna Pasta with Artichokes

This was shared on Orgjunkie.

Today we welcome Kim as our guest blogger.  After her son, and subsequently her husband, were diagnosed with Celiac Disease five years ago, Kim, of Cook IT Allergy Free, decided to embrace the challenge and teach herself everything there was to know about eating gluten free.  Thus, she began work on a Master’s Degree in Nutrition (with an emphasis in Holistic Nutrition).   She started having so much fun on her new educational path that she knew she had to help others learn how to enjoy feeding their families when dealing with Celiac Disease and other food allergies and sensitivities.   She understands, all too well, the struggles that are faced in the kitchen when dealing with food substitutions.  She wanted to teach how to embrace these challenges with gusto!

Kim’s Recipe:  Drunken Chicken and Vegetables with our Farmer’s Market Bounty

Kim’s Tip: If you eat what is grown in the ground, you do not have to waste time reading labels.

When I was asked by Diane, of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang, to be a part of the 30 Days to a Food Revolution (the extended version, now that we are beyond the original 30 days), first I was so incredibly honored to be included in such an important event, and second, I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about.

I wrote in a blog post a while back, that when I was growing up, family gatherings began with cooking together all day in the kitchen and then culminated with dinners that lasted long into the night.  These meals were filled with slow, easy conversations that melted easily from one topic into the next.  The children were included in all of it – no banishment to the “kids table” happened here.  There was this comfortable sense that all was right in the world when we were around that table together.

I have said often that food was the “gluten” of our large extended family, binding us together over meals prepared with so much love (and yes, plenty of wheat).  So, as I started my own family, and the words Celiac Disease and Gluten Free became a regular inclusion in our everyday language, I had to still the fears that our family gatherings would start “crumbling” without the “gluten”.    I took this as the challenge to prove that there really was a “bon appétit without the wheat”!  What I learned in the process of this has changed the way I will look at food forever.   What a wonder it is to feed our bodies in the ways that our ancestors ate.

We have now learned to “bind” our family together in a new way.  And our “glue” comes in the form of fresh produce and foods made with brown rice, quinoa, millet, teff, sorghum, buckwheat, nut flours, bean flours, and coconut flour with a little xanthan gum thrown in sometimes to keep it all together.  The result… we all feel better, have more energy, and still feel the joy of coming together around the table over a meal made with pure, unprocessed, whole food ingredients.

However, our society has become one of convenience – whole foods are not the commonplace.  Family dinners are often few and far between with our hectic schedules. We even have a name for the way our nation eats:  The Standard American Diet.  It isn’t the name that is bad, but the tongue-and-cheek acronym that is used to refer to it: The S.A.D. Diet.

Somewhere along the line, Americans have lost sight of the fact that healthy food is fresh food.  Now our nation’s diet usually consists of a myriad of processed carbs (cereals, breads, pasta, cookies, cakes etc.), processed meat products, and a few fruits and veggies. This diet is high in many things, most of which our bodies don’t really need.  It is full of hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup, phytic acid, acrylamide, sodium nitrate, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and lacking in basic essentials such as vitamins, minerals.

And with the prevalence and increase of food allergies and different conditions requiring special diets, imagine how exhausting it is to read the labels of all of these foods that have umpteen ingredients, most of whom you do not dare even say out loud for fear of mispronunciation!  Even worse is that there can be allergens hidden in some of these complicated ingredient names that we do not even know about.  Hence, my tip:  If you eat what is grown in the ground, you do not need to waste time reading these labels. Fresh produce does not require a science degree to understand– it is nature’s most bountiful and simple gift to us.  Let us all work together to support Mother Earth’s natural ecosystem.  Let us teach our children where their food comes from.  In the process, we will find this also leads to a healthier version of our own inner ecosystems!

Our family has now learned to spend a lot of time perusing our local farmer’s markets and we have just started receiving our weekly organic produce basket from Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op and our monthly delivery of grass-fed meats, foraged chickens, and free-range eggs from A Bar H Farms.  The fun begins when we try and create meals that include ingredients from all of these treasure troves.  And thus, this is how the recipe for Drunken Chicken and Vegetables evolved for 30 Days to A Food Revolution.

Drunken Chicken and Vegetables

INGREDIENTS:

¼ lb Applegate Farms Organic Sunday Bacon (nitrite free), cut into ½ inch pieces

3 lb bone-in, skin-on organic chicken pieces

1 tsp salt, or more to taste

½ tsp pepper, or more to taste

1 tablespoon: olive oil

1: large organic yellow onion, thinly sliced

8-10: cloves organic garlic, thinly sliced

1 pound: organic carrots, sliced however you like

8 ounces: artichoke hearts, in water, drained

½ cup: fresh  organic mushrooms, left whole (I used Baby Bella’s)

1 ½ cup: dry white wine 
(I used an organic white from Napa, however, you can use a 12 oz bottle of gluten free beer instead of the wine – have done this MANY times and it lends an awesome flavor if you are not sensitive to yeast)

½ lb organic fingerling potatoes, halved

1 ¼ cups: gluten-free organic chicken stock

2 teaspoons: fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons: fresh basil, coarsely chopped

1: bay leaf

1/3 cup: green onions, sliced white and green parts

3 cups: brown rice or quinoa, cooked

DIRECTIONS:

1.   Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2.   Season chicken all over with salt and pepper.

3.   Heat oil in a heavy 5-quart Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the bacon and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.

4.   Add the olive oil to the drippings and brown chicken in the Dutch oven turning once, about 5 minutes total.  Will most likely have to do it in batches so you do not over-crowd the pan (add a little more olive oil, if necessary).  Transfer chicken as it is done to a plate and set aside.

5.   Add onions and cook until soft and golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and potatoes and cook for a few minutes more, until they start to caramelize and brown a bit.

6.   Add wine (or beer) and deglaze the pan with it by scraping off all of the delicious browned bits. Then add chicken stock, rosemary, basil and bay leaf and stir well.

7.   Return chicken, along with any accumulated juices, to the Dutch oven and spoon vegetable mixture over the tops of the chicken. Cover and transfer to the oven.

8.   Cook until chicken is tender, about 1 hour.  Remove bay leaf from pot.

9.   Spoon chicken, with its vegetables and sauce, over the brown rice or quinoa and serve garnished with green onions.

This is a forgiving recipe – you can add more or less of what you like or don’t like.  And as my neighbor says all of the time, “I only measure medication – I leave the food to taste…“

Read more on Cook IT Allergy Free today.