As I was catching up on my blog reading the other day, I happened across this alert regarding my of my most near & dear gluten-free mainstream products. Prego Three Cheese Spaghetti Sauce. Oh boy. This is the sauce we have always eaten, even in pre-GF days. One of the most important aspects of this sauce is there are no big chunks of any vegetable in it, meaning that my 3 kids (yes, I am including Aaron in that) will eat it with no complaints. We all know how my kids feel about tomatoes. 😉 Does this mean that I will have to make my own sauce from scratch now? This wouldn’t be a big deal once in a while, but for as much as we eat spaghetti, lasagna, pizza…..it is nice to be able to open a jar of sauce, know it is GF and get on with life. This could explain why Jon and I have felt less than stellar in the recent past few weeks. We are eating some kind of meal using this sauce at least once per week. Or, maybe it has nothing to do with it. Anyway, I have done my research and all Classico pasta sauces are GF. We use their alfredo and it is divine. I need to find one that the fam will tolerate and cross my fingers that there are no big chunks or maybe I will have to run it through the food processor before heating it up….hmmm…never thought about that before. See what blogging at 5:00 AM will do for you? I am thinking the Four Cheese will probably do the trick, though the Florentine Spinach with Cheese looks good, as does the Spicy Tomato & Pesto and Vodka Sauce! I doubt the fam would go for the last 3 that I listed. That is okay, I like Four Cheese. In fact, I am not sure that I would turn down anything with cheese.

Another idea….I did read, as I was investigating this news, that Wal-Mart makes a pasta sauce that is very close to the Prego that is GF. It is apparently only around $1, so I may give that a try. At the very least I could throw it on some pizza dough and dress it up if it is not that great.

First, I am going to apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. I would love to show you a beautiful shot of this amazing dish, but my laptop is being persnickety and shuts down anytime I “ask” it to do too much. Under the umbrella of “do too much” are things like uploading pictures, burn a CD or DVD, download music, watch a video clip or open too many windows. Basically, it (my laptop) is putting the kibosh on my multi-tasking. Not a good thing for a Type A personality like myself. 😉 Well, I fixed that, or I should say Aaron did….I am getting a new laptop (early Christmas gift) that should be here any day! So, take that, old laptop!

When I have uncooked shrimp I normaly make Shrimp Scampi with it. Aaron came up with a new idea and added some alfredo sauce to the mix. What we now have is a delightful mix of flavors. The kids love this dish. They can’t get enough of it and there are never any leftovers. They (the kids and Aaron) will fight each other for the last piece of shrimp. What I find interesting about the whole thing, especially with the kids, is that they normally don’t like their food mixed or to touch, but adore this creation. I am not going to mess with it. They eat it, that is the ultimate goal. Usually we put the shrimp sauce over fettucine, but didn’t have any, so I used spiral shaped brown rice pasta instead for them and I had spaghetti squash, my new favorite that I can’t get enough of! Here is a rough estimate of the proportions for this dish:

Shrimp Scampi Alfredo

1 pound uncooked, peeled & de-veined shrimp (we used 26-30 count)
1/4 cup butter (give or take a TBSP or 2)
basil (a few shakes)
oregano (a few shakes)
garlic powder or fresh garlic (the equivalent to 2-3 cloves)
salt & pepper (a few shakes)
lemon juice (a few squirts)
alfredo sauce (We use Classico)
Fresh shredded parmesan
pasta, rice or spaghetti squash

**You could also cook with some white wine. Aaron doesn’t like the flavor when I cook with wine (silly man!), so I don’t use it when he is eating.

1. Melt butter in pan; add shrimp and season with ingredients up to lemon juice (wait until shrimp is cooked to add the lemon juice). Cook until pink throughout, but be careful not to overcook or they will be tough.

2. While you are cooking your shrmip, place alfredo in a separate pan and heat your alfredo sauce…about 3/4 jar or so, depending on how creamy you want it.

3. Add alfredo to the shrimp pan and mix well. Add in fresh shredded parm. Pour on top of pasta and add more parm and some fresh basil if you have some.

4. Enjoy!

Well, hopefully my new laptop is here sooner than later. It was shipped Monday from Shanghai, China, so we shall see. I am tired of my computer deciding when I have spent too much time surfing the net! How dare it shut off and not let me get my fill of Perez Hilton!

A few weeks back I was at Whole Foods trying to score some frozen GF pie crusts and happened upon a sale on Glutino Frozen Pizzas. They were 2 for $6.00, which was a great deal! They are normally $4+ each. I like to keep quick meals on hand for busy nights, so these were perfect for that. These pizzas are easy to prepare. Both times I made these pizzas, I set the pizza directly on the oven rack. The result was a nice, crisp crust! I added a little Frank’s Red Hot to my pizza, b/c I love it and put it on everything. What a nice treat! These have a wonderful flavor and almost remind me of a spinach dip on a pizza crust! I paired the pizza with a nice salad for a meal. I would definitely buy this product again and highly recommend it to anyone out there looking for a quick frozen meal.

Phew….what a whirlwind the last week has been! The surprise party is over and I can relax! I talk to my Mom on the phone daily and it was SO hard to make sure that I didn’t spill the beans to her!

This week is busy, but not as busy as the last week. A couple of hockey practices and the last figure skating class of the year. Cookie baking and such. I have been wanting to make Mexican Pizzas for a couple of weeks, but can’t find any Tostada shells other than the massive package of 100 or so. Ortega & Old El Paso both used to make them, but I can’t find them anywhere! I have looked at 3 stores minimum. I don’t know what the deal is. I guess I will have to look online. We prefer these over tacos. I guess I could make my own…..

On the menu:

Sunday ~ Baked Salmon with Sweet Thai Chile Sauce, brown rice, sauteed zuchinni/mushroom/grape tomatoe medley and spinach salad

Monday ~ Spaghetti w/meat sauce, steamed broccoli, garlic english muffin halves & salad

Tuesday ~ Baked Chicken Fingers, Sweet Potato Fries and spinach salad

Wednesday ~ Dinner out after hockey & figure skating

Thursday ~ Roast Chicken, mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts & salad

Friday ~ Homemade pizza, steamed carrots and salad

Saturday ~ Breakfast for dinner (pancakes or French Toast) and bacon or eggs.

I have seen others include breakfast & lunch in their plans, but I do the same thing daily for myself…I am extremely OCD like that. 😉 That would bore you to see it written out, so I will do it once…I eat brown rice cakes with Skippy Natural PB & fruit spread or Peanut Butter & Co.’s Dark Chocolate Dreams & Black Cherry Fruit Spread; egg whites, basil & grape tomatoes. Jon has cinnamon toast on Pamela’s bread or Instant Breaky. Hannah….who knows. It changes by the minute.

Lunches for me vary based on leftovers.

Baked Goods for the Week

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gingerbread
Remarkable Fudge

Okay, I am off. Have a great week!

Hehe….now I can finally blog about this here! We have been planning a surprise party for my Mom for the past 6-9 weeks and it has been killing me not to talk/blog about it! A little background…my Mom & I share a birthday. Our birthday is Januray 9th. She will be 60, I will be 36. We knew that if we planned a surprise party for her that it would have to be either way before or way after b/c we have BTDT with her for her b-day in the past AND the weather in Ohio is notoriously un-cooperative in January (or really anytime between mid-December to the end of February or even early March for that matter). My Step Dad, Joe, and my sister, Kelly, were really the planners in this whole shebang. I did some minor things, but really, all of the props go to those two. They did an excellent job. Also, my Step SIL, Rebekah, did a wonderful job on the decorations and my Step Brother, Dan, provided us with the media devices to play the photo slideshow that Kelly made. Oh, and quite possibly the best thing (at least for Jon, myself and my Aunt Chris, who also follows a GF diet), the gluten-free cake…my MIL made an awesome carrot cake with cream cheese icing for us to have for dessert! YUM! Well, the bottom line…..SUCCESS!! She had no idea! YAY!! We did it again! My Mom, God love her, is so gullable. Mom, I mean that in the sweetest way possible. 🙂 I can’t tell you how many times we have surprised her now! We have done at least 1 other birthday and a Mother’s Day too, I believe. We love surprises!! The party was catered by someone my Step Dad hired. I felt more comfortable getting Jon & I frozen meals and heating them up in the microwave they had at the hall that we rented. Jon had an Amy’s Rice Mac & Cheese, I had a great Pasta Primavera made by Gluten-Free Cafe, which appears to be associated with The Hain-Celestial Group. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful taste of this frozen meal. I chose it mainly b/c it was one of the only meals that had veggies in it and didn’t have onions in it at my local health food store. It was a little low in calories for a meal (I believe it was under 300, and that is great for those watcthing their weight, but not enough for me for a dinner), so I had some veggies, GF pretzels & crackers to snack on too. It was a wonderful night. Oh, and remember what I said above about the weather in January? Well, we had a freak snowstorm yesterday that created a driving nightmare all afternoon and night. We really didn’t get more than a couple of inches, it just seemed like it snowed all day and the road crews couldn’t keep up. I think weekend, Holiday shopping traffic added to the complications there. We all laughed how we planned this party early to avoid a weather nightmare and had one anyway!

Now, onto my breakfast Mimi’s Cafe chat. A few of us (okay, 14 of us) met this AM for brunch at Mimi’s Cafe. There are a few places around that do a sit-down breakfast gluten-free. First Watch is one, but they always seem so cramped and I didn’t see a party of 14 at 10:00 AM going over well (or quickly for that matter). So, we chose Mimi’s Cafe. They don’t have much GF info online, but they do have a notebook with foods safe for Celiac/gluten-free individuals available to view at the cafe. The staff at Mimi’s Cafe were amazing. They were extremely accommodating, the server checking with the kitchen and manager on anything she wasn’t 100% sure about. They were well versed on cross-contamination. I really don’t know why I have only eaten here one other time before today! They are 5 minutes from my house and serve breakfast, lunch & dinner and have lots of options! Jon had the bacon, cheese, & sausage omelette, jasmine rice and fruit bowl (okay, he didn’t eat the fruit, he gave it to me). I had the fitness omelette (egg whites, mushrooms, tomatoes & broccoli and I had them add cheddar cheese) with tomato slices on the side. Instead of wheat toast, they brought me corn tortillas. It only dawned on me just now that I should have spread jelly/jam on those…DUH!!! I also had a glass of tomato juice. Neither Jon or I got sick….a BONUS! The lunch/dinner options were extensive for GF. I will be going back. The prices were very reasonable and the portions were huge! Oh, they brought out free dessert to my Mom (and sang) and to my sister (who really did have a birthday on Friday). Everyone had a wonderful meal, even though our birthday guest insisted on paying!!! MOM! She said that she was so grateful for all the sacrifices we all made to celebrate for her and with her, that she wanted to get the bill. Thanks again, Mom, you ROCK!

So, add another place that is safe for those on a gluten-free diet. I am excited to go back again! I may have to do this instead of Cheeseburger in Paradise every now in then to change things up.

Last night I had burgers on the menu for dinner. I was feeling a little creative and decided to make “Inside Out” burgers with the toppings on the inside. I had seen Rachael Ray do this on her show and I looked up a few recipes, so I wasn’t flying completely blind here. I combined a few different recipes that I found and went to work.

1 – 1.5 pounds ground beef (or half ground turkey)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 tsps paprika
1 TBSP worchestershire (I use Lea & Perrins)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

I mixed all ingredients, except the cheese, together in a bowl. I then formed thin patties and placed a bit of cheese on each patty, then another small patty on top. I sealed those patties around the cheese. I placed the burgers on my George Forman grill and let them cook. When I went to get the burgers, all of the cheese had been squeezed out! LOL! So, back to the drawing board I go. First, I think that I need to have crumbled bacon in the inside along with the cheese. Second, I think that these burgers would do much better cooked either on a grill that doesn’t “smash” them or in a pan. I am now seeming to recall reading in RR’s recipe that you shouldn’t press the burgers down into the pan. I think that I am seeing the reason for this now. 😉

As for the flavor of the burgers, they were really good. Jon commented several times on how good they were. I put some cheese on top of his & Hannah’s burger, so they weren’t missing anything and didn’t realize the faux pas. This is why Aaron doesn’t like when I try new recipes on company. Thankfully we didn’t have company last night, but his “lecture” about my making new dishes on Thanksgiving was in the back of my head. 🙂

So, now that I know, I will be making these again, with bacon and in a pan or outside on our grill, weather permitting.

I was never a big fan of Wal-Mart before going gluten-free, but I can’t help but shop there now, at least for certain items. We do our main weekly grocery shopping at Meijer, mainly b/c they have low prices and they double coupons and DH is a big fan of that. 😉 He is my coupon King. I go to Wal-Mart for my generic drugs, just can’t beat the prices. I also go for some toiletries and some of the Great Value brand items. A huge positive of the Great Value brand is that they clearly mark tons of their stuff “Gluten-Free” on the label. I am a huge supporter of companies that make my life easier and also offer those items at competitive prices. The chicken broth is $1.48 for a quart. Another bonus? I can’t eat onions, onion powder or any derivative and the Great Value Chicken Broth has no onion in it! Most other broths, even GF, contain some kind of onion flavoring. They also have my all-time favorite peanut butter, Dark Chocolate Dreams, made by Peanut Butter & Co for $3.56!! OH.MY.GOSH. That is a steal! Shhhhh….don’t tell the peeps at Wal-Mart that! Oh, they also have Rice Chex cereal for $1.66/box! Need I say more?

Okay, onto why I am writing this post. Aside from the Great Value brand being labeled GF or the other mainstream GF items, Wal-Mart has not had much in the way of GF specialty items. Last year they added a version of Gluten-Free Pantry’s Muffin Mix & Brownie Mix for under $3.00/each. That is a nice deal. Muffins are good. I have a box of the brownies to try in my pantry that I haven’t got around to yet. Yesterday, my neighbor told me that they now have a GF section at Wal-Mart. WOOHOO!! I had to head up there today to check it out. I have to say that I was impressed. Not only is there a section in the baking aisle, but there were some Pamela’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies in the cookie section, along with some Mi-Del GF cookies. In the pasta section, they had 2 varieties of DeBole’s GF Rice Pasta, penne & spaghetti. I also found Envirokids Bars in the clearance section for $2.35/box. Now, for the baking mixes, here is what I saw:

Pamela’s Chocolate Cake
Pamela’s Pancake & Baking Mix (a personal fav)
Kinnickinnick Mixes (several different kinds, including pancake & waffle mix)
Bob’s Red Mill Mixes (about 10 different kinds, including bread, cookies, brownies, etc.)

Wow. I am sure that you can identify what a joy this is to have items like this in a mainstream store. Not only does it make it easier to eat when you are away from home, but it offers more competitive prices on some of these very $$ items.

Here we are in December already. Where did the year go? Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the Holiday season and most of the stuff that comes with it, but geez, it seems like it was just New Year’s Day and I was trying to figure out how to get rid of my gluten-free beer hangover! LOL! We had a wonderful time with our family over the past few days and Jon had a successful trip to Pittsburgh with his hockey team, eating gluten-free even! I was all worried about him getting glutened and guess who got glutened, and not just once, but twice, 2 days in a row! The second time I really should have known better, it was the same restaurant I was glutened at the day before, but I was giving them the benefit of the doubt b/c I had eaten out numerous times that first day and it really could have come from anywhere. Anywhere, that is, until I was glutened the 2nd day at the same restaurant. GRR! I can say that I won’t be going back. Our server on day 2 is someone I know and who works at another place that I frequent and I know he tried his best to keep me safe. I realize that eating out is risky and in order to lower those risks, I have to avoid that place from here on out.

Now, on with the first week of December. Another busy week here. Getting back into the swing of things is always tough. I am the kind of person who craves normalcy and routine, but yet find myself kind of enjoying not having to adhere to a schedule for a day or 2. We have at least 1, if not 2 hockey practices this week, ice skating practice, at least 1 hockey game, a surprise party on Saturday night (I can’t say who, b/c if they are reading, it will spoil the fun!), and dinner with my Dad on Friday night. Phew. I am worn out and Monday isn’t even here yet. I am proud to say that here I am, Sunday night, and I have very few leftovers from Turkey day. I feel that I planned much better this year than I have in years past. I don’t even think I have enough turkey, after having some for dinner tonight, to make another meal! YAY! Our potatoes & stuffing are down to 1 or 2 servings too, and that would make a nice breakfast.

Wow…this is much longer than I intended it to be. Onto the plan:

Sunday ~ Leftovers. I made turkey fettucine alfredo with peas, grape tomatoes & fresh grated parmesan & a spinach salad

Monday ~ Burgers, sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli & salad

Tuesday ~ Baked or Grilled Salmon, brown rice, okra medley & salad

Wednesday ~ Cheeseburger in Paradise

Thursday ~ Turkey Tacos, refried beans & salad

Friday ~ Dinner at Dad’s…I believe we are doing pizza. He is ordering from a local place, Donato’s and they do “No Dough” pizzas that are GF. I don’t eat them b/c they are on soy crusts and still make me feel weird. I will take my frozen Glutino Spinach & Feta pizza to bake over there.

Saturday ~Surprise Par-tay

Baked Goods

Banana bread
Chocolate Crinkles
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cranberry Cornbread (to freeze and have at Christmas)

I am also going to start making my Christmas cookies & freezing them so I am not crazy busy in a few weeks. I don’t know who I think I am kidding, I am always busy! LOL!

Thanks to Sarah at Heart of Cooking for hosting the Gluten-Free menu swap this week. Also, make sure to check out OrgJunkie for lots more planning ideas.

I know that I say a lot of recipes I try are like heaven or amazing, but seriously, I am a foodaholic! I happen to love quick breads, desserts and pumpkin, to name a few. I don’t like to toot my own horn, but, OH.MY.GOD. This banana bread that I made today was amazing! I used an old recipe that my Mom used to use, from the very, very old Betty Crocker cookbook and modified it a bit. Obviously, I made it GF. Then, I subbed buttermilk for the milk b/c I had some that I had to use up and I love it in quick breads. The result was the moistest, most flavorful banana bread I have had since going GF.

Banana Nut Bread ~ Gluten-Free
**Original recipe from Betty Crocker Cookbook, modified slightly by me

2 1/2 cups flour (I used Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix; if you use a flour mix without xanthan gum or guar gum, make sure to add at least 2 tsps. to this recipe)
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 tsps. Baking Powder
1 tsp. salt
3 TBSP. canola oil
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 egg
1 cup finely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
2-3 medium very ripe bananas (about 1 cup)

Heat over to 350*. Spray your bread pan (1 pan that is 9 x 5 x 3 inches or 2 that are 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5) with PAM. Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl; beat on medium speed for 1/2 minutes, scraping sides constantly.

Pour into pan(s). Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. **I only needed to bake for 55 minutes. Remove from pan immediately; cool thoroughly before slicing.

Perfect for breakfast, snack, dessert or with a cup of coffee. You could spread cream cheese or butter on your slice or for a nice dessert, mix up a glaze of powdered sugar & milk and pour thinly over the top.

Last week I posted about Jon going on a trip out of state, on his own with his hockey team. I had been concerned about how he was going to navigate his way through traveling and eating with his diet needs. I prepared him and the chaperones involved as best as I could (lists, information, shelf-stable food). Jon has been gone now since Friday AM and I am very proud to update that he is doing very well with his diet. He has navigated his way through 2 days of meals and has been very creative in how he is making sure his food is safe. Yesterday morning is the prime example. I was on my way back from the gym when I see that he is calling me and I had just spoken with him. He was at IHOP, a Celiac’s nightmare, and wanted to know what he could eat. I started to tell him and he stopped me. He wanted me to speak with the waitress. I then spoke with the waitress, verifying that they do indeed put pancake batter in the eggs & omelettes. She suggested using their fresh eggs, in shells. I asked her if they could scramble a couple in a clean frying pan and then maybe get him a glass of milk. She said yes. I was very impressed. Jon called me back later to tell me that he didn’t get sick! YAY! I am so glad that he took the initiative to have me to speak to the server on the cell phone! Last night they ate at BW3’s again and he did fine. I am so much more relaxed about this now. My baby is growing up!