Amazing Addicting Pasta!

I made up this pasta sauce last night & served it over Brown Rice Rotini Pasta from Trader Joes. MMMM.....I have to share!

In a saucepan, I dumped a can of diced tomatoes,

3 TB Rice Flour,

a drizzle of light olive oil

4 tsp minced onion

a generous amount of each: oregano, sweet basil, pepper (more than you might think of each of these. The sauce was pretty "spicy").

some salt

3/4 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

stir constantly & bring to a boil.  Mmmmmm!  Soooo good!!

I put leftover turkey (from the freezer) over the top to get some meat with it.  Any well-seasoned, shredded meat would go great with it. I think shrimp, salmon or halibut would also be super yummy.

I served it with my latest, easy salad:

Tear up some green leaf lettuce & spinach together (after cleaning, of course).

Use a veggie peeler and peel a carrot, discard the peelings, and then keep on using the peeler & put the pieces of carrot you peel off into the bowl of lettuce & spinach.

Toss the whole thing with some salad dressing of choice. I like Paul Newman's Parmesan Garlic, I think it's called.  It just needs a little dressing.

Top with a sprinkling of Parmesan Cheese.

YUM! :)

Yummmmmy Dinner!

Hi Friends, I have not posted here in quite a while! I don't know if I'll be able to catch up on what I've been cooking over the last month, but let me start with last night's dinner!

With the help of my handsome man, we assembled & cooked:

Chicken Apple Sausages (cooked on the stove top)

Spicy Sausages (cooked on the stove top)

Carrots

Celery

French Fries (cooked in the oven)

Fondue

I cook fondue like this: 

A little olive oil & maybe 1/2 T to 1 full T of minced garlic. Saute it, then add in about 1.5 to 2 cups of wine (I get the 2nd to the cheapest wine at Wal Mart).  Let that get hot.  Then add in, 1 at a time, slices of American-Swiss Cheese.  Like the American Cheese, but it's Swiss.  Stir with each new slice.  I get the big pack of the cheese at Costco, and there are 3 big stacks in that, and I use about 1.5 stacks for 2 cups of wine.  Just keep adding cheese until it's not too runny, and keep stirring with each piece. I like the Costco cheese because there are no individual wrappers...That's important to me!!

So I put little bowls full of fondue on everybody's plate (and the big pot in the center with a ladel for refills), and then everybody got to dip sausage, veggies and french fries in their fondue.  The kids LOVED it and so did we!!!! 

Bob's Red Mill

I ventured out to Bob's Red Mill this morning, when everything was still frosty and cold. It was a nice little drive! :)  

I really like Bob's Red Mill. They have an entire row of Gluten Free goodies, as well as a bunch of items in the bulk bins. Warning: the baked goods, and the smell of the restaurant can be oh so tempting.  But no worries!  They have a dedicated Gluten Free bread machine, and they make GF bread every day for sandwiches or toast!!

The prices of the Bob's Red Mill packaged flours are exactly the same as they were at Whole Foods. But--you can get many of the same items (most, I would say) in the bulk bins for a slightly cheaper price per pound.  Since GF flours can add up quickly, this helps a lot!

I recommend going into Bob's Red Mill with a list. Look up GF recipes you want to make over a week's time (not too long--GF flours go bad quickly) and buy only the ingredients for those recipes.  Last time I went to Bob's Red Mill, I went in without a plan and got a little of everything in the bulk bins that said GF, as well as some of the mixes and pre-made foods. I walked out with 1 paper bag, spending $50.  Today I walked out with 2 paper bags, spending $33. Not bad!  

The pre-made non Bob's Red Mill GF products are more expensive here. The Envirokids cereals were $4 something, and they were $2 something on sale at Whole Foods this week.  I did get a few packaged items, only because we are flying out to California on Monday and my mom will be watching the kids for 5 days & I want to make it easy on her. I got some frozen GF chocolate chip muffins, and some rice cakes, some arrowroot cookies, and some kettle corn.

The packaged GF mixes made by Bob's Red Mill are on the spendy side, and as I remember, do not taste all that great.  I was tempted to buy a couple of GF cookbooks I saw, one for $24 and one for $35--but then I remembered that there are SO many free recipes out there on the net.  No need to spend a lot on packaged mixes or cookbooks--just search the web!  My personal favorite site? Recipezaar.  I search for Gluten Free and then click on Rating to bring the highest rated recipe to the top.  I used 2 recipes off the site today, and I'll let you know how they go--a GF Chocolate cake, and a GF Angel Food Cake. We're serving them up for a joint b-day today!  I have other pics to post as well, coming soon!! :)

Apricot Glazed Pork Roast with Shitake Mushrooms

I feel like such a chef after cooking last night's dinner! The leftovers were a fabulous lunch today, too.  Mmm!  I want to share the recipe with all of you so that you can enjoy this too!

Here is Noah, my big helper, sniffing the rosemary that he cut from the garden for me. He loved helping me cook!

This is what the roast looked like when it was still being cooked. I pulled out out just to baste it.  Don't worry, I washed the rosemary before I put it on top. :)

This is what our dinner looked like. And it tasted SO yummy!!!

I got my recipe inspiration from Karina's Kitchen and I changed just a couple of things.

Apricot Glazed Pork Roast with Shitake Mushrooms

Pork Roast~I don't know how big mine was, maybe a 3 pounder, and it was partially frozen, and it had a bone in it

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sea Salt, Pepper

5 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 large onion

2 cups dehydrated Shitake Mushrooms

Fresh Rosemary

The Sauce:

1 jar of apricot Simply Fruit

3/4 cup home-canned grape juice (sweetened)

3/4 cup water

2 tablespoons brown sugar (I will omit this next time, it was sweet enough)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Put the pork in a roasting pan. Drizzle olive oil on top, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Put the garlic, onions and mushrooms in the pan.  Put a sprig of fresh rosemary on top.

For the sauce, mix together the apricot preserves, the grape juice, water, vinegar, brown sugar and spices and mix until smooth.  Pour over the roast.

Cover and put in a 325 degree oven for about 4 hours, then increase the temperature to 350 and finish off until about 160 degrees.

Let it rest for about 10 minutes while you make the glaze. Strain all of the juices from the pan and put them in a saucepan.  In a small mason jar with a tight fitting lid, pour about 1/3 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of Tapioca Starch.  Shake it up really well and pour it in with the pot of glaze.  Add salt and pepper if desired, let the glaze thicken over medium heat & keep on stirring.  

Slice the pork thin and pour the sauce on it, and then spoon some mushrooms & onions on top.

I served it with brown basmati rice (which takes an hour to cook, so plan ahead!) and garlic green beans.

Garlic Green Beans:

Frozen green beans from Trader Joes (the best! very sweet French Style green beans)

Butter

Minced Garlic, as much as you like--I probably put in 3 or 4 tsp. to 1/2 a bag of beans

Salt & Pepper

Melt butter in frying pan, toss in frozen green beans and garlic, cook over medium to high heat until done.  Yummmmmy!!

GF Frozen Foods Review

Ian's alphabet fries, gluten free. $2.69 for a bag that seemed pretty small...Let's see, it was: 12 oz.  They were ok. The kids liked them. I thought they were a bit mushy inside.  They're easy and convenient kid food, but really, how much is a whole bag of potatoes, and how many potatoes would it take to make 12 oz of homemade french fries?

Ian's Chicken Nuggets~~these cost a ridiculous $4.99 for 10--yes TEN chicken nuggets!  Not only that, they weren't even good.  Karry asked if there was any meat inside them (supposedly it's all white-meat chicken, but the texture was funky).  Isaac liked them, but nobody else did.  I will not be buying these again.  

GF Cereal Reviews

I got two kinds of gluten free cereals at Whole Foods the other day:

Gorilla Munch. This one cost $2.39 for 10 oz, and I'm pretty sure it was on sale. It looks like Kix. I can't eat any because it is made in a facility that contains nuts (that is the hardest thing about this GF diet--many recipes include nut flours and packaged products are made around or with nuts). The kids ate this, and they liked it a lot.  This one was the favorite of the kids. Ingredients: organic corn meal, organic evaporated cane juice, sea salt. Very basic. That's the kind of product I like!

Perky O's--these cost $3.99 for 1 10.4 oz box.  These are supposed to be like Frosted Cheerios.  First taste, I wasn't sure.  After a few bites, I like them.  I can eat these ones, they're made in a nut-free facility! :)  They also do not contain any soy, which is always a plus in my book!  The kids like these, except for Ruby. She's our pickiest eater.  They're a little lighter in texture than regular Cheerios (I'm sure it's the flours). If you're trying to stay away from sugar & sugar cereals, this isn't a good fit for you. It contains powdered sugar and evaporated cane juice.  But hey, no corn syrup!!  That's something to say hooray about! :)

Gluten Free, Days 1 & 2

Note to self & word of advice to all: never say "I'm starting a gluten free diet tomorrow" when you have no gluten free foods in the house. That is just plain crazy! :)  

Day 1

Breakfast~~I had no clue what to prep for breakfast. I cooked up some breakfast sausages (I checked the ingredients carefully), and I cooked scrambled eggs. Isaac and Kaleb don't like eggs, so I cooked them incredibly thin, with lots of cheese, and wiped off the grease (Isaac doesn't like wet foods), and Isaac said he LIKED the eggs!!  I gave them each some orange slices, too.  That was breakfast!

Lunch~~I hope I am understanding ingredients that have gluten in them well--the kids ate hot dogs that appeared to be free of gluten, and some apple slices. I ate apple slices. This is where the craziness comes in...I got hungry!!

Dinner~~The boys were out with daddy at OMSI. I gave him instructions on what they could eat--a hamburger patty only, at McDonalds or Burger King, no french fries (they contain wheat!). They ended up having popcorn at OMSI (probably contains gluten in the sauce--maybe?) and then some meat and cheese at home. I did a Trader Joes & Whole Foods shopping trip on an empty tummy, then came home and fed Ruby (not so gluten free), and cleaned up the lunch dishes and got Ruby in bed, and then pulled out my fabric to start making Christmas presents, and then felt like I was going to pass out from being so hungry...Not smart B!  Karry went to our pastor's house to do woodworking with him after the kids were in bed, and on his way home (9:30 or so), he got me a chicken salad from Burgerville--no croutons. :)

I'd done all that shopping ($90 at Whole Foods!) but I was weak from not eating and didn't feel like prepping anything/couldn't think that hard....Not smart!!

Day 2~~MUCH BETTER!!

Breakfast~~I made these waffles. Couldn't tell they were gluten free! Rock on!

Lunch~~We had brown rice cakes (GF!) with babybell spreadable cheese (is that what it's called? the wedges) on top, and turkey (apple gate farms, gluten free, no hormones, etc.) on top of that, and then apple slices. That was a yummy lunch. I think I'll make that again--and again! :)  The kids really liked it, and I taught them how to spread their own cheese, which makes it an easier lunch for me!

Dinner~~Well, I've attempted a white bean/pork thing in the crock pot all day, but it's 5 pm, and the beans still feel hard (I soaked them, too!) and it looks like soup, but it's not supposed to be.  Dinner rescue plan: we have pre-cooked taco meat in the freezer (I make my own taco seasoning, no flour), and I bought gluten free brown rice tortillas at Trader Joes yesterday.  THAT will be dinner instead of the soupy/hard bean thing! :)

Tomorrow is Kaleb's birthday--I'll take pictures of the GF Cake I try to make!! :)