Spaghetti and Meatballs

I think that for almost most people this is a child or childhood favorite dish.  It becomes hard for people with food allergies due to the pasta, and the different things that are put in most commercial spaghetti sauces.  For a long time now, Jessie and I have always made our own. I like being able to pronounce and know exactly everything that's listed, don't you?

Tomorrow will kick off our daughter Dawn's 90 GF challenge. She's exhibited a lot of signs of being gluten sensitive, included a delayed puberty, so Nana and I put a challenge to her. She eat ALL meals and snacks gluten free for 90 days, if she doesn't see a difference, then she doesn't have to stick to it outside of our home, if she does, then she will stay gluten free. She accepted the challenge.  SO I thought it would be fitting to make a favorite dish of mine that the kids like, so they can have the leftovers.

For the Meatballs:
1-1.5lbs of ground beef (or ground turkey)
1Tbs of dried minced onion\
1/2 cup of gluten-free bread crumbs (like Ener-G or Glutino), homemade bread crumbs or I personally like to use Quinoa flakes
1 large egg beaten (OR 1TBS of ground flax seed, 3 TBS of water)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder.
1 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line a 9X13 inch baking sheet with foil
2. Using  your hands, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
  Shape the mixture into 12 meatballs, and place on the prepared baking sheet.
3. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheet for 15minutes. (or place in sauce)

For the Spaghetti sauce:
 2-3 cans of tomato sauce
1-2 cans of diced tomatoes (Hunt's )
1 of each baby food: Sweet Potatoes and Carrots(giving everyone some extra vitamin A)
1/4 to 1/2 a can of pumpkin (helps to thicken the sauce naturally) or 1 can of tomato paste( Hunt's)
Season to taste with the following: garlic powder, oregano, parsley, and basil. Feel free to add any other seasonings you would like.
1/4 of black pepper
1/2 TBS of sea salt.

1. In a large sauce pan, add all ingredients BUT the diced tomatoes.  Whisk all ingredients, taste with a spoon, once you like the amount of seasonings in, then add the can of diced tomatoes.  Simmer to low till the meatballs are ready, then add meatballs if desired, continue on simmer-low till your spaghetti noodles are ready.

For the Spaghetti noodles - cook according to directions.

Pork Chops

Earlier this week, I got a great deal on Pork Chops at Walmart.  I discovered from one of the workers that, once they put the meat out, it's discounted on the 4th and 5th day it's out for consumers to purchase. After the 5th day they pull the meat, send it to dog food manufacturers to grind up and put in dog food.  So for a little over 3lbs of Center cut Pork chops, normally 14.68, I got it for 9.68. Pretty great deal huh?  Normally I'm not a huge fan of purchasing meat at Wally world, when you are on a budget you gotta do what you gotta do.

So here's the recipe that we are using tonight for dinner:

5 pork chops
15 oz of cream of chicken soup (homemade)
7-8 small red potatoes
garlic powder
sea salt
black pepper

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. While that is preheating, wash and cut up your red potatoes. Put them in the bottom of a casserole dish. Then take your pork chops, season them with garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper (season them to taste), and then I tenderized them on both sides.  Place on top of the potatoes. Take the cream on chicken soup and pour over them.  Cover and cook for 45 minutes or till pork chops are cooked. We served them with green beans, and GF biscuits from Bisquick mix.

For the biscuits just follow the directions on the back of the Bisquick box. We substitute the milk with coconut milk. Also due to 99.9% of cream soups having wheat flour in them, therefore a no-no to us. I've been very heart broken because I haven't been able to make my grandfather's stew up till now due to the fact it asks for cream of chicken soup. Then I thought I'd take a chance and google on the internet to see if anyone had a recipe for it...lo and behold someone did!!!  It's super super easy, that a novice like myself can accomplish it.  So earlier this week, we were finally able to have grandpa's stew (2yrs since the last time I had it.). Yummy!

Here's the link to cream of chicken soup. It's another GF blog with great recipes.
http://thehappytummy.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/cream-of-chicken-soup-gluten-free/

Meat n Potatoes

Ugh the last couple days in our house have been pretty eventful as far as sickness goes.  Cyril came down with the Rotavirus(Rotovirus).  Which is frustrating is that he was vaccinated for that. So things haven't been as spicy, have been more bland, much to the disappointment of my husband. lol.  Plus with us being on the Feingold (FG Diet), it's hard to know what spices are approved for stage 1....when the ones you are used to cooking with are on stage 2. (My chili powder and paprika).

So last night, I made potatoes, ground hamburger, GF/CF gravy mix (NOT FG yet....), and green beans. Nothing special, but it's Dawn's FAVORITE dinner to eat. I swear she would eat potatoes and gravy everyday if she could. lol.

It's a great beginner's meal, when learning how to cook.

1. Wash ( I take a green scrub pad and wash/scrub the potatoes), pork with fork all of the potato
2. Season with butter and garlic, wrap in foil
3.I place them in a pan, so that any butter that leaks is in the pan, not the bottom of the oven, place in the oven @ 350 degrees for 1 hour.
4. When the potatoes have about 20-30minutes left to cook, that's when I start to fry up the hamburger. I chop the ground beef (or ground turkey), use minced onion
5. Cook the GF gravy like you would normal gravy, I used Brown Gravy by  Mayacamas
6. Microwave or cook on low a can of green beans.
7. Serve

New Favorite for Lunch

I think I have a new favorite for Lunch at least, if not a quick dinner meal. Cyril wanted corn dogs, and I must confess I wanted one too, since I only had the unapproved, non-gluten free corn dogs, he got 1 and I got none. lol.  So I was a good girl and cooked up a chicken breast, which is Feingold Approved, Gluten Free AND Weight Watchers friendly. Can't get any better then that now can I?

The chicken is thru Schwan's called Live Smart Chicken Breast.  It's about 13.99 a bag BUT before you have a heart attack about the price, it's the only chicken breast that I know of that uses water instead of broth AND when you cook it up, it doesn't shrink to 1/2 it's size. You most certainly get what you pay for.  I also cooked up the last of the Oreda Tater Tots.  They are gluten free, but alas are NOT Feingold Approved so after today, we must bid good-bye to our family favorite tater tot. Now I'm on the hunt for a good tater tot, that's both GF and Feingold Approved.

Great new blog!!

Last week, on one of the online support groups I'm a part of, sent a link to a great new blog.  The reason why it's so great is for several reasons. 1. She uses her crockpot all the time, I'm starting to become in love again with mine. lol.  2. She wrote a WHOLE year of GF recipes using her crockpot, and now has quite a bit more recipes to add.  It's been great looking over her blog. 3. There are pretty easy for novice cooks.

Here's the link.  You'll start to see more of her recipes on this blog.
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Here's one from her blog that we used the other night. It got mixed reviews at my house, but that's not really surprising. lol.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-applesauce-chicken-recipe.html
Applesauce Chicken
by Stephanie O'Dea
The Ingredients.

--4 frozen chicken breast halves or thighs (I used 2 of each)
--1 1/2 cups of applesauce(use your own, or already made. I used my own)(Stage 2)
--1 T dried onion flakes, or 1 yellow onion, chopped finely
--1 T apple cider vinegar (Stage 2)
--1/4 tsp cinnamon
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--2 cloves garlic, minced
--1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, I used them, and added more to the adult servings)



The Directions.



A 3 or 4 quart crockpot is the best size for this, but I did use a 6 quart. If your pot cooks fast, err on the lower end of cooking time.


I used my own applesauce, which for those of you on the FG (Feignold Diet -Stage 2).


Put the frozen chicken pieces into your crockpot. Add the onion (if you are using the dried onion, wait and add it to the applesauce). In a bowl, mix the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, and spices together. Pour on top of the chicken.


Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4.
Serve with rice or quinoa

Duh moment.

So as many of you know, I've been slowly replacing my personal products that are gluten containing products with gluten free.  I've been so frustrated with my hand lotion thinking it doesn't matter. I'm not ingesting this stuff why does it matter?  For the last 3 or 4 years my hands have been breaking out in blotches, then these blotches peel.  Well it turns out that the gluten in my hand lotions and other products have been bothering my system.  Well the last few nights I've been using a all natural hand lotion, couldn't figure out why the blotches were getting worse...you guessed it gluten.  So I looked at the ingredients and guess what: Wheat germ was listed on the product. Can we say "Duh!" lol.  Just goes to show that you have to read, read, read labels. Never take them for granted.

So far in regards to lotions and some other personal care products, the only brand that I've found that is entirely gluten free, after calling the company is Say Yes to Carrots product line. She said the entire line is gluten free. So the next time I'm at Target, I need to take that leap and purchase the lotion. It's just so expensive. 

A few other products that are gluten free so far that I have found is: Burt's Bees Acne Solutions(great for tween/teens ) and the Deep Cleansing cream. Almay intense i-color and the Almay mascara is as well, or according to the company it is. Bare essentials face powder is as well.

God Bless
Carlena

The Dr. Oz. show

The word is starting to finally get out in regards to being gluten intolerant or having Celiac Disease.  On today's show of Dr. Oz. He had Elisabeth Hasselbeck (Thanks to her book "The G free Diet") I discovered that I was gluten intolerant and was able to end 8 years of suffering for me and my family.  The animation that he had showing how this affects your body, was great.  It was neat to see and better understand how it does that.

Here's the link to that:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/celiac-disease-advantages-gluten-free-diet?hs317=billboard_1

Muffins

At the grocery store recently had a sale on blueberries, so I bought 2 pints, not realizing that I'd be the only one eating them. lol.  So then I got the great idea of making blueberry muffins, of course GF.  But I had to search a little bit and find one where I had all the ingredients on hand.  Bob's Red Mill had a great basic plain muffin recipe.  They turned out, but were a little dry. I'm not sure if I over stirred the ingredients or not. The very thing his recipe said not to do.  So I'll try it again, and we'll see what happens. I love his products by the way.

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups of GF All Purpose Baking Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
2 TB Vegetable Shortening (I used Crisco)
2 eggs
1/4 Sea Salt
1/4 cup Milk (I made it with cow's milk - will try a sub)
1/4 tsp of Vanilla
2tsp Baking Powder
1 cup of Blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray muffin in with nonstick vegetable spray, set aside.

Cream together sugar, and shortening; beat eggs. Mix together flour, salt and baking powder.  Add flour mixture to egg mixture alternately with the milk.  DON'T over mix. Stir in Vanilla. Fold in blueberries.

Pour into prepared muffin tins (I used liners). Bake approximately 20 minutes or until done. Makes 12 muffins

Enjoy!
God Bless
Carlena

Fad diet?

Congratulations to Miss Chelsea Clinton who is getting married. Why would I say that?  She had a gluten allergy and for her wedding reception the food and wedding cake will be entirely gluten free. I'm so thankful that word is getting out about being on a gluten diet. More and more companies are making gluten free food, so taste of these foods are getting better. And gluten free foods are getting CHEAPER!!! yay!

Now bare with me for a moment people, I'm getting on my soap box.  Yes, granted society is getting better about offering more and more options as far as eating gluten free food, but hear this: THIS NOT A FAD, I REPEAT NOT A FAD DIET!!!! ah, that feels better.  I'm am getting sick and tired of hearing people say "it's the hottest trend." or "so when you lose your weight are you going back to eating regular food?"

The other day I was in a store, nursing my son Gordon, and I overheard some people talking about this "new fad diet and how it's so ridiculous, to cut out all this food. It won't last long." Yeah - I LOVE having mudslides, I LOVE missing out an opportunities with my kids because I'm in the bathroom sick or we need to leave to get home because I'm going to be sick. I LOVE being in such pain, that I curl up into a ball, crying because I want someone to just put me out of my misery. I LOVE not being able to have hugs from my husband or kids because I'm in such pain. I LOVE being embarrassed when someone asks me when I'm due, even though I'm not pregnant. I LOVE cutting out foods, or telling my kids, "No, mommy can't eat that really neat pie you made in cooking class." I love having to pay the really expensive prices on food just because I want to be on this fad diet. But I didn't. I just shook my head and thought if they only knew the truth.

For 98-99% of the people that are eating gluten free (GF) this is NOT a diet, it's not a weight loss plan, it's a lifeline to being healthy.  It's for parents who's children that are austic, ADHD and etc do better when they take the gluten out. It's people like me that are gluten intolerant (Non-Celiac Disease Intolerance) or are indeed Celiac Disease who NEED to cut out gluten for our health. Remember people that have a nut allergy or various other food allergies that if they have a wee bit of crumb it can cause them to be knocking on death's door? It's the same thing for us.  I mean, I don't know about you, but I really don't want to spend hours, or days stuck between my bed and the bathroom, because I'm too sick to move.

There were times that my stomach was so swollen I looked at least 6 months pregnant (when I wasn't pregnant), it hurt to move.  Others have mainly skin issues like eczema ( I have that too.), have mood swings and etc.  It can even affect a woman's ability to have a child.  The list of signs and symptoms goes on and on. I've been told that there are over 300 different signs. That's why it's so hard sometimes to diagnose, so forgive me but fad diet? Nope - don't wanna go back to those experiences.

Okay. Enough said. Stepping off my soap box.
Carlena