Hawiian fried rice 7/10

SO easy, and one of my families favorites, east with some chop sticks and nothing but a bowl on the table. easy peasy!

INGREDIENTS:
21/2 cups rice
4 large carrots, diced
1/4-1/2 diced onion
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tamari sauce
1 can spam-diced
3 eggs ( optional)

Rice-
cook until its nice and soft

IN a wok next to your cooking rice- cook up
1/4 and onion
3 garlic cloves ( I pushed mine through my garlic press)
4 large carrots chopped up

Once those are nice and cooked- add 1 can of spam diced into the mix

THEN add your cooked rice into the wok, and put about 1/4 a cup tamari sauce into the mixture

While you stirring that you can pull out any for those Egg free family members to enjoy and fry up and egg for those who would like it to add to the pot.

Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy. good for a quick night and something fun from Hawaii!

No bake cookies

One of my very favorite cookies to much on are the ones you can make all summer long with out heating up your oven! This is one of the EASIEST recipes to convert to GF,  DF, EF

"It goes like-a this" ( little mermaid?? you know you heard Sebastian say it in your head):

Ingredients

3	cups quick cooking rolled oats- GF
⅔	cup peanut butter
½	cup chopped peanuts (optional)
2	cups sugar
½	cup (1 stick) DF butter
½	cup Almond
⅓	cup Hershey's cocoa
2	tsp. GF vanilla extract      Directions

Line cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment.

Measure oats, peanut butter, and peanuts; set aside.

Combine sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa in medium sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a rolling boil. ( if you are using reg. GF oats, this is when you add them and turn WAY down the heat for a bit)

Remove from heat. Add oats, peanut butter, peanuts, and vanilla stir quickly, mixing well.

Immediately drop mixture by heaping tsp. onto paper. Cool. Store in cool dry place.

I never add peanut Butter, I prefer almond butter...and I leave out the chopped up peanuts too. The other thing you need to remember is that GF quick oats can be hard to find, so I use Regular GF oats, but they need to cook in the sauce a bit to soften up, or else it gets mighty crunchy...and not in a good way.

Good luck! Happy cooking!

simple apple salad

I did a little GF, DF,EF surfing at allrecipes.com this morning and found this recipe. It intriguing to me that this might actually taste good, so I am going to try it this week =)

Ingredients

• 10 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and chopped
• 2 (8 ounce) cans pineapple chunks
• 2 cups raisins
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 20 ounces sour cream
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Directions

1. Combine the apples, undrained pineapple, raisins, pecans and sour cream. Mix well and add sugar to taste. Serve chilled.

Scones, Breakfast for dinner - 9

I got this Recipe from the website Living with out, AWESOME site and magazine! =) this is going to be our breakfast for dinner this week:

Free, Allergy-Friendly Lemon Scones
MAKES 8 SCONES

Free of gluten and the top eight food allergens, these delicious pastries are ideal for your holiday breakfast table. They’re also satisfying when served alone, the perfect companion to a steaming cup of coffee or tea.
For a fun treat, throw in a ½ cup of allergy-friendly chocolate chips*.
1¾ cups (6.6 ounces) gluten-free flour blend of choice
½ cup (2 ounces) tapioca flour½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips*, optional1 tablespoon flax meal
3 tablespoons water
⅓ cup rice milk + ⅛ cup rice milk, divided
1 lemon for zest (approximately 1 tablespoon)
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) dairy-free, soy-free margarine of choice, cold
1 tablespoon rice milk, to brush tops of scones1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar**, optional


1. Preheat oven to 400º F (350º F for convection oven). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the gluten-free flour blend, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add chocolate chips, if desired.
3. Whisk together the flax meal and water. Let mixture sit for a couple minutes while you zest the lemon. You should have approximately 1 tablespoon of lemon zest. Whisk again the flax meal and water. It will have a gelatinous texture. Add the lemon zest and 1/3 cup rice milk to the flax mixture. Whisk gently to combine.
4. Cut cold margarine into small pieces and work into the flour mixture with your hands until mixture resembles a coarse meal.
5. Add rice milk mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula by hand just until combined. Add remaining rice milk (⅛ cup), a tablespoon at a time as needed, until dough hangs together.
6. Using a designated #20 portion scoop, scoop the dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Flatten slightly with a half-cup measure or glass dipped in tapioca flour. Or for a traditional triangular scone, shape the dough into a 7-inch disc, ¾-inch thick. Using a bench scraper or chef’s knife, cut the dough into 8 wedges and set on a prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
7. Brush the top surfaces with rice milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if desired.
8. Place scones in preheated oven and bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
9. Cool scones on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then transfer scones to the rack and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
*TIP Gluten-free, allergy-friendly chocolate chips are available from Enjoy Life Foods (enjoylifefoods.com). Gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate chips (Chocolate Dream) are available from Sunspire (sunspire.com).
**TIP To make cinnamon sugar, combine ½ cup granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Mix well.
Each scone contains 254 calories, 11g total fat, 5g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 0mg cholesterol, 339mg sodium, 37g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 2g protein.
The original version of this scone recipe was created for the 1st Annual Gluten-Free Summit, held in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Allergy chefs Joel and Mary Schaefer have since altered their recipe so that it’s not only gluten free but free of the top 8 allergens. Recipe reprinted with permission from Serving People with Food Allergies, Kitchen Management and Menu Creation (CRC Press), by Joel Schaefer.


The Kids LOVED these. I made them just as written. BUT I would say that with out the chocolate chips I think they would have been bland. my husband who is VERY GF picky and doesn't always eat the same diet gave this a 5. I think he may have been being a little too hard on it. =)

Breakfast for dinner 10/10

In our house a family favorite is ALWAYS breakfast for dinner! Maybe its because their mom is to lazy in the morning to get her cook on, or maybe its just that good, either way- the happy dance is done by all when we have breakfast for dinner.

Pancakes:

I use Pamela's Baking and pancake mix, and I ALMOST follow the directions like it says, except-
In place of the eggs I use 1 1/2 TBLSPNS of ground flax seed
In place of water I use Almond milk
then I add a sprinkle of cinnamon and about 2 TBLS of brown sugar

Bacon?? YES please!
for those who haven't heard...cook it in your oven! throw down some parchment paper, lay out your Bacon and cook at 350.

Hash Browns:
roasted garlic seasoning is my favorite to throw on there. but the best part about hash browns is cooking them up in the bacon grease with a little pepper and they usually turn out NICE.

get a little fruit on that plate and call it good for a night, greasy, sugary yumminess. only once in a while though- o.k?

sloppy Joe's- 8

SLLLLOOOOPPPPYYY JOOOEEESSS! Sloppy Joe's was a meal I had A LOT growing up and It was NOT my favorite. BUT as a mom I have found that a good old sloppy Joe's recipe really comes in handy on a night when you may have had a plan to cook something just spectacular -and well rounded- and for sure it was high end cuisine... ( as I am sure you do every other night)...but plan B is making a grand appearance. My family LOVES this recipe in fact they loved it so much a few said they were giving it a TEN and wouldn't mind eating it again tomorrow! For realistic purposes however, I am giving it and solid 8.... it is sloppy joe's after all. SO, I am going to write it down and MAYBE get it right next time. Because if I am being honest, what I love about sloppy joes is the fact that I can open my pantry, mix a bunch of random things, and it usually works! Here is tonight's mixture:

Sloppy Joes:

1 LB ground Beef, Turkey ( what we use, allergic to beef) or chicken

4-6 stripes of bacon, chopped up

1/4 cup green bell peppers. diced

1/4 cup red bell peppers. diced

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced

1 TBSP GF Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp chili powder ( I used about twice that much if not more)

a good sprinkle of Webers gourmet burger seasoning ( LOVE THIS STUFF)

a really good sprinkle of my favorite roasted garlic seasoning

some oregano sprinkled to.

2 cans Diced tomatoes in tomato juice

ALL seasonings should be double checked to make sure they are still GF. I have found companies change their recipes more often then I would like. Brown your meat and bacon and onion and peppers all together. Add all your seasonings as you are browning so the flavors can really get cooked in there. Once your mixture is all cooked up add your tomatoes and let it simmer, stir every so often so the bottom wont burn. Let it cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.

ONE MORE ADD. I take our GF buns, put Vegenaise on one side a DF cheese on the other and throw then under the broiler until toasted. YUM! make your sandwich, usually this awesome mess we eat with a fork, pair the meal with salad, fruit and veggies!

Mac & cheese & hotdogs! 3/10

last week while I was doing my weekly " oh man I am overwhelmed by this diet" session, my husband kindly suggested that a few nights a week I should try to do more simple meals for my kids ( even if my taste buds throw a fit) so we settled on what my honey considers an American classic! Mac & Cheese....and HOT DOGS! In our local walmart I found this brand, I was almost skipping down the isle I mean how rare are GF/DF products??


I followed the directions to a tee, and wa-la! dinner in a snap! we used turkey dogs, as my middle man is allergic to Beef along with DF/GF/EF. the kids were not to impressed. They ate the hotdogs out of the pasta. I asked for a review, and none of them LOVED it or even were thrilled about trying it some other time...so it earned a poor 3/10. At least I tried to simplify right??

Pizza Night!! 10/10

Tonight the kids and I wanted to get creative! so we went over to my sisters house and had PIZZA!! The kids were so cute, They really enjoyed being little chefs. I think this one is a 10 out of 10 stars. the reviews were some thing like " this is SOOOO good" "can we have pizza night every night? or at least once a week?" The best thing about this is that you can tweak it however you want, a gourmet pizza or simple like we did.

For the crust we used:

Pamela's baking mix ( my new very favorite mix!)
which calls for:
2-1/4 tsp GF yeast
1/4 cup oil
1=1/2 cup water

Sauce:

we have found one of our favorite sauces for pizza is Hunts spaghetti sauce. ( I sent an e-mail to them asking if they consider their product GF, DF....I'll let you know! but I always label and did not see anything.

Toppings!

This is the fun part, do whatever you want! we had:

mushrooms
olives
green bell peppers
red bell peppers
onion
pineapple
turkey pepperoni
DF cheese
sausage
artichoke hearts

my middle one put EVERYTHING except cheese on his. he LOVED it. Have fun baking!