12 hours and counting until the 2 children who live in this house are back at school! Hannah is so stinkin’ excited she can barely contain herself. Jon, not so much. He is dreading it and will probably fight going to bed tonight like we have never seen before. Like he can postpone school by not going to bed. I really don’t know what he is trying to accomplish by acting out at bedtime. I mean, come on, he is 12 and knows the program. What, are we all of a sudden going to say “Fine, stay up and skip school!”?

So, being the nice mother that I am, I am going to make sure that my kids start the day off right with a nice, warm breakfast. I made a huge batch of gluten-free pancakes on Monday from Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix. I used milk instead of the water it called for. I let them cool and then froze them in individual serving packets (Jon eats 3 at a sitting). He can then heat them up in the microwave all by himself. Hannah likes these pancakes too, but isn’t a huge breakfast eater. I see her eating a few bites of cereal, drinking some milk and going on her merry way.

Pancakes:

Now, I will probably have some of my newfound love, Lara’s GF Oatmeal. I wasn’t a huge oatmeal fan before going gluten-free. In fact, I don’t recall ever eating oatmeal, except for my Mom telling me I ate it as a baby. Well, in my quest to eat healthy, I thought I would give it a try. At the very least I could make granola out of the oats or use them in cookies if I hated the oatmeal in hot cereal form. So, I tried them the other day…WOW…I was impressed. I used 1/4 cup of oats, 1/3 cup of water, 1/3 cup low-fat milk, 1 tsp brown sugar, dash of vanilla and topped with 1/3 cup blueberries and a sprinkle of walnuts. YUM!! Here is a nice picture to show you what I will be doing again for breakfast tomorrow!

Lara’s GF Oatmeal:

All dressed up with my goodies:

I do need to add that not all people with Celiac disease can tolerate oats. So far I don’t seem to have any issues with it, surprisingly since my stomach is very sensitive. Jon won’t try them, so I don’t know how he would react, as he is the super sensitive one.

So as I drift off to sleep tonight, I will be dreaming of my nice hot breakfast together with my kids on their first day of 1st grade and 7th grade. Sniff, sniff.

This post really doesn’t have anything to do with Celiac disease or living gluten-free. This has to do with a sweet little boy who is fighting for his life. His name is Collin. If you pray, if you could please add him to your prayer list, he can use all the prayers he can get. You can read more about Collin and his story by clicking on the link in the image below.

Not only is “C” for Cookie, but for Chocolate Chip Cookie! I have been wanting to make these for well over a week and I finally remembered to get sugar when I was out today. I absolutely love Chocolate Chip Cookies, as do Jon, Hannah and Aaron. Being the wonderful person that I am, I not only made GF chocolate chip cookies, but gluten-filled for Hannah and Aaron. Aaron’s were made with walnuts, Hannah’s without. I obviously made the GF ones first, as to avoid any cross contamination. I made most of the GF ones without nuts or oats, but added some Lara’s GF Oats to mine. YUM!!! Here are some pictures of the cookies before they went into the oven:

And after they came out (don’t tell anyone about that one with the bite out of it, I have no idea what happened there 😉 ):

And on a pretty platter:

Here is the recipe that I use for the cookies. I modified it from one that my sister uses (she doesn’t like to use vanilla in her chocolate chip cookies and I do).

Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Gluten-Free

Ingredients:
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
2 sticks of butter (1 cup), melted
1 large egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour (I use a mix of rice flour, tapioca & potato starch)
2 tsp. Xanthan gum
1 tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ package (I used 6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Nuts (optional, however many you want)
GF Oats (I used Lara’s ~ I only used about ¼ cup or so, but use your judgment) optional

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Mix sugars, butter, egg and vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff)
3. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts and/or oats
4. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto un-greased cookie sheet (**I did Pam my sheets)
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool Slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy with a large glass of cold milk!

I actually considered skipping lunch and sitting down with just a plate of cookies. I couldn’t bring myself to do that though. I settled on 2 for now and froze the rest of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for later. I am sending one through the USPS to my sister, as she wants to try the GF oatmeal ones. We will see how that fairs from Columbus to Atlanta. Kel, make sure to let us know how that works out. 😉

I am kind of busy this AM, but wanted to make sure that I shared this with you. I was reading the Septmember 2008 issue of Shape magazine while working out at the gym yesterday and came across an article on Celiac Disease! Imagine my surprise! Page 104 titled “What’s Really Causing Your Stomach Upset”. A little blurb, but still, better that the word is getting out! They mention how only 5 percent of sufferers know that they have Celiac Disease.

I will be back later with more!

Sunday is the day where I sit down and figure out what we are going to eat for the week. We usually go grocery shopping on Sundays, so it is easiest for me to sit down on Sunday morning with my coffee and plan my week out. Here is what I have on the menu for this week:

Sunday ~ Spaghetti with meat sauce (I use Prego 3 Cheese Sauce and add fresh ground meat or ground turkey and Tinkyada or Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta), steamed broccoli and a fresh salad. My new favorite dressing of the day is T. Marzetti’s Lite Honey French (the ones you buy cold in the produce section)

Monday ~ Baked Salmon (seasoned with S & P, garlic powder, dill and paprika), brown rice (I usually sprinkle Red Hot on my rice for some zip) and steamed green beans. I will probably have a salad along with my meal. Jon will actually eat salmon, Hannah, not so much. She will probably have Kraft Mac & Cheese, obviously not GF.

Tuesday ~ Hoisin Chicken Wings (a new recipe that I found on a blog I frequent, A Year of Crockpotting. I am so looking forward to this recipe, I hope the family likes it. I will serve pan-fried taters and salad along with this.

Wednesday ~ Hannah and I will go to Cheeseburger in Paradise after her skating class. Jon and Aaron will have leftovers or fend for themselves. This is also the first day of school!!!! YIPPPEEE!!! (Did I say that out loud???)

Thursday ~ Grilled Chicken (marinated in balsamic, EVOO (thanks to Rachel Ray for shortening that for us 😉 ), garlic powder, S & P), baked potatoes, sauteed spinach (for me, the fam won’t touch, steamed veggies for them) and salad.

Friday ~ Breakfast for dinner. Most likely scrambled eggs or omelets with veggies & cheese, fried potatoes, bacon and gluten-free toast or bagels (if I get around to baking them this week).

Saturday ~ Burgers on a bed of tomato & lettuce, topped with cheddar, sweet potato fries (Alexia brand) and brussel sprouts (once again, for me, the fam will leave me if I serve them this, they will have corn on the cob).

I am usually pretty good about following my weekly plan. I go through my freezer to see what meats I have and incorporate them into the plan. We buy meats on sale and freeze so that we don’t have to pay ridiculous prices when I have a craving for baby back ribs, pulled pork, etc.

So, there you have it! Off to the shower and then to the store!

Oh, fun news that I can’t forget!!! I will be submitting my menu to the Gluten-Free Menu Swap. Make sure to check it out at Gluten-Free Cooking School.

If you ask anyone who has a food allergy or sensitivity what the hardest part is and they will say that making sure what they eat doesn’t have the ingredient they are sensitive to in it. Thankfully, there are now labeling laws for the top 8 allergens (milk, eggs, shellfish, fish, soy, wheat, peanuts and tree nuts). Unfortunately for those who have Celiac or are sensitive to gluten, companies are not required to call out gluten on the label. Gluten can be hidden in natural flavors, spices, etc. There is a lot to be said for companies that won’t hide gluten in spices or natural flavors. I will gladly spend extra money to make sure that the product that I am eating is free of gluten and is easily verified over one that I have to call to verify or wonder about. Here is a list of companies that will clearly mark gluten on the labels:

These are companies that say they will clearly list gluten in the
ingredients. I have not included companies that are specifically GF or
smaller specialty companies. I know this list is not complete. Some of
these are actually subsidiaries of some of the others, but I have not tried
to sort that out.

When a company says it will clearly list gluten, you might still see things
like “modified food starch” or “natural flavor.” In this case, the suspect
ingredient does not have gluten if gluten is not plainly listed. I cannot
tell you about any policies regarding cross contamination.

Act II
Alexia
Aunt Nelly’s
Balance Oasis (Balance bars)
Ball Park
Baskin Robbins
Ben & Jerry
Betty Crocker
Blue Bunny
Breyers
Campbells
Cascadian Farms
Celestial Seasonings
Con Agra
Country Crock
Crunch & Munch
Edy’s
Egg Beater’s
Fiddle Faddle
Fleichman’s
General Mills
Good Humor
Green Giant
Gulden’s
Haagen Daz
Healthy Choice
Hebrew National
Hellman’s
Hershey~ Update (Just issued a new statement this year (2009); call per each item to verify GF status)
Hillshire Farms
Hormel
Hunt’s
Jiffy
Jiffy Pop
Jimmy Dean
Knorr
Kozy Shack
Kraft
La Choy
Libby’s
Lipton
Manwich
Marie Callender’s
Martha White
McCormick
Nabisco
Nestle
Old El Paso
Ortega
Orville Redenbacher
Pam
Parkay
Peter Pan
Pillsbury
Poppycock
Popsicle
Post
Progresso
Ranch Style
Reddi Whip
Ro*tel
Rosarita
Russell Stover
Sara Lee
Seneca Foods
Slim Jim
Stokely’s
Sunny Delight
Swiss Miss
T Marzetti
Tyson
Unilever
Van Camp’s
Wesson
Wishbone
Yoplait
Zatarain’s

For the first 6 months or so after I was gluten-free, I carried this list around with me every time I went to the store. I also had a huge notebook full of lists of individual foods that I could safely purchase and eat. I no longer need the notebook or lists. For the most part I can either remember the brands or stick with what I know. We also tend to buy very few processed foods so there really isn’t the issue of what is in it if it is a natural, whole food.

So, yesterday we went to Aaron’s company picnic at King’s Island amusement park. We had a great time. We left home early, about 8:10 AM. Surprisingly that is only 10 minutes after the time we planned on leaving. Not bad! I packed a cooler for lunch for Jon and I and made sure to have a doctor’s note in order to bring the cooler in (rules per King’s Island are that no food is to be brought in). We arrived right as the rides were starting to run at 10:00 AM. We had no trouble at all getting in with the cooler, as a matter of fact I could have had anything written on that doctor’s note. I am not complaining, I would rather have it be easy to get in with the food then hard. Jon and his friend, Grant, were eager to take off and ride the roller coasters, so we set them free. We took Hannah and headed to Nickelodeon Land, the area for all of the little kids. She immediately rode the kiddie bumper cars and had a blast. Then we met up with our neighbors, who have 2 kids, their little girl is Hannah’s age. We spent some time with them and the girls got their faces painted. Hannah chose a “mask”. Here she is in all her glory:

Around noon we headed over to the picnic grove for lunch. Aaron, Grant and Hannah were able to enjoy the food provided by King’s Island. They feasted on chicken fingers, pototo chips and salad. I packed myself a turkey & muenster cheese sandwich on Pamela’s bread, a fruit bowl and blue corn chips. Jon had a roast beef & cheese sandwich, Cool Ranch Doritos and a Yoplait yogurt. We buy Oscar Meyer lunch meats, as they are a Kraft company and will label any gluten indgredients. Yoplait yogurt has started to label their yogurts “gluten-free” on the side. They also won’t hide any ingredients on their labels.

After lunch we headed back out into the park. The boys headed to the water park area, Boomerang Bay. They didn’t stay there for long, they wanted to go back and ride more coasters. Aaron and I took Hannah over to the area where they have the Scrambler, Spider (which they call the Monster) and some crazy ride called “Shake, Rattle & Roll”. It was nuts. Hannah loved them all. Mommy, not so much. I rode them for Hannah. Those round & round rides make me want to vomit. Before heading home we headed to Graeter’s from some ice cream. I indulged in the strawberry, it was amazing. Jon had chocolate. Hannah had a vanilla scoop on a cone. YUM!! After stuffing our ice cream down, we headed home. I couldn’t wait to go to bed! LOL! I had gone to the gym at 5:00 AM and after working out and then walking all day, I was whooped!

Gotta love being able to call and get Chinese take out. That is one thing I have really missed since going gluten-free. I still have yet to find a GF egg roll, but I will take what I can get. Last night on the way home from King’s Island I was really tired and couldn’t fathom cooking & cleaning up, so I suggested Pei Wei Asian Diner for dinner. Pei Wei is run by P.F. Changs. Convenienty I keep a carry-out menu in my glovebox. I love the Pei Wei Spicy Chicken or the Pei Wei Spicy Chicken salad. Jon really likes the Pei Wei Sweet & Sour. Some locations even carry gluten-free soy sauce, you just need to ask for it. I keep La Choy Soy Sauce at home for when we get Chinese take out. It is like heaven on earth.

We really like P.F. Chang’s too, but there really isn’t one close by to our house. Not only do they have a pretty extensive GF menu, they have an amazing dessert too. It is a flourless chocolate dome. Whenever we go we have to get more than one b/c Jon doesn’t really like to share his dome. 🙂 I don’t blame him. It is one of the few places he can safely order dessert out. I have tried many of the items on P.F. Chang’s menu, but really like the Singapore Street Noodles the best. Some of the other good dishes are Philip’s Better Lemon Chicken, Ginger Broccoli, Chang’s Spicy Chicken and don’t forget the lettuce wraps. They also have gluten-free soy sauce, just make sure to ask your server to get it from the back, the soy on the table is not GF.

Every once in a while when Jon and I get frustrated with eating gluten-free, we will make a list of all of the things that we would eat if we had one day to eat gluten. We both realize that unless there is some major medical/pharmaceutical development, this will never happen, but it is fun to daydream. So with our upcoming King’s Island trip, I began to think about what I would eat if I could. My list is not going to be limited to what I can find at King’s Island, KI just inspired me to daydream about gluten. Here is my list….let’s see how long it is:

Charley’s Chicken Philly & Fries
Pizza Hut Pan Pizza & Boneless Spicy BBQ wings
Whole grain bread (weird, I know, but once you have eaten GF bread, this sounds gread)
Sourdough bread (never knew how much I would miss this one…..when we go out to eat and the server places a nice, hot, fresh basket of sourdough on the table, I will pick it up and just let the wonderful aroma drift upwards towards my face)
Cheesecake (yes, I know I can make it GF and it is excellent, but I miss ordering it out)
Hot Soft Pretzel (have yet to find a replacement)
Pretzels
Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich with cheese & mayo
McD’s Filet-O-Fish Sandwich
Egg McMuffin
Flour Tortillas (love Chipotle burritos)
Kringle (the pasty filled with fruit, topped with icing that you eat around the Holidays)
Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts
Panera Bread Bagels or a good bagel in general
Amstel Light Beer
Nathan’s Hot Dogs

Jon’s List:

Pop-Tarts
Waffles
Pancakes
Donuts
Pizza (in all shapes and forms)
Chicken Fingers
Cake
Cookies
Pop-Tarts
Charley’s Fries & Philly
Did I mention Pop-Tarts?

Now, I am sure you are catching a theme by now. None of the above is healthy, except maybe the whole grain bread. So, if there is a silver lining in our gluten-free cloud, it is that we eat pretty healthy now.

Ah…Cheeseburger in Paradise. One of my favorite songs and one of my favorite restaraunts to eat at. I loved this place even before I had to eat gluten-free. The burgers rock! Imagine my surprise the first time I went in there after starting the gluten-free diet and they handed me a gluten-free menu. I swear that I almost fainted. I had gone months without french fries. Yes, I had fries at home, but they weren’t the deep fried yummy potato goodness that you get from a restaraunt. I was in french fry heaven! We started to make CIP a weekly treat, after my daughter’s ice skating class and now, 2+ years later, we are still going at least once per week. I have had the burgers (love the bacon and cheddar burger and fries), Carribean chicken sandwich, Son of a Sailor salad with grilled shrimp, Parrot Beach Salmon and Blackbeard’s Shrimp. I am on a salmon kick now, so I start with the side sald with citrus vinaigrette and then have the blackened salmon and steamed broccoli. I got to know the staff very well at the location we visit. They even went as far as to order in the gluten-free beer, Red Bridge! Jon loves to eat here too. He gets a plain cheeseburger, fries and house salad with the house vinaigrette, which he loves so much he gets extra to take home! He will occasionally get the Jamaican Root Beer sans coconut as a treat. When we go to CIP, we usually have the same server and she knows what we want without us having to tell her. She knows what to watch for and makes sure our food comes out properly. It is so nice to be able to eat out regularly without having to worry about getting sick. Jon is really sensitive and seems to get sick every time we eat at Bonefish, though he still begs to go back. We have yet to have a problem with CIP (knocking on wood). I know it is risky to eat out due to cross contamination issues, but I don’t want to live in a bubble either.

Speaking of eating out. In a few days we are heading to Kings Island for Aaron’s company picnic. They provide lunch, very scary for anyone with any kind of food sensitivity or issue. We plan on brining in a cooler with lunch for Jon and I and a doctor’s note so that we are allowed to bring food in, as it says right on the website that no food or drink may be brought into the park. The kids are really looking forward to going. Let’s hope we don’t have any issues getting the cooler in or Jon and I will be having an awful lot of Graeter’s Ice Cream and Starbucks coffees during the day! LOL! Come to think of it, that doesn’t sound too bad, does it? I plan on packing roast beef sandwiches on the bread that I made yesterday, along with some fresh fruit, baby carrots and chips (either Cool Ranch Doritos or Blue Corn Chips). Maybe I will make the brownie mix I have sitting in the pantry from Trader Joe’s. Ooooh……I bet I can top one of those with a big scoop of ice cream from Graeter’s…..I think I just might! I will probably pack some Lara Bars for snack. Jon’s favorites are chocolate mint, lemon, key lime pie and peanut butter cookie. I love the chocolate coffee, cashew cookie, chocolate, pecan pie, cinnamon roll and gingersnap. I love they are a whole serving of fruit! It is helpful to disguise fruit in any way possible for picky eaters like Jon. 🙂