So what do you do when Lay’s decides to add corn oil to your only safe corn-free vending machine junk food snack? Well, you start to think outside the box a little. We know there are other chips on the market that offer the consumer a corn-free experience, such as Cape Cod or Miss Vickie’s Vintage chips. But let’s face it, these are high end chips, and worse yet they don’t come in convenient individual sized bags for on the go allergy sufferers. We needed an alternative for our rainy day munchies and a fun and fattening episode of Paula Dean’s Home Cooking put some ideas into my little chef’s head. He decided we should deep fry something too. I wanted to chalk it full of veggies if I could, so I settled on three lovely and large sweet potatoes. (more…)

If you have drooled over the Starbucks bakery display or have dreamed of having just one more scone again, I am here to tell you that it is time to wake up and get cooking! Little chef and I bought a scone pan from Nordicware while at our local Dominick’s store, a Safeway affiliate. It wasn’t cheap, and I hesitated to buy it, but at the last minute I gave in to my little chef’s cajoling.

This morning we decided it was time to try it out. The pan is made out of heavy cast aluminum and it makes eight large triangular shaped scones. We altered the recipe supplied by Nordicware and had tremendous success! All three boys thought it was delicious, and I even caught little chef picking the crumbs off of his plate. I think our version was a bit on the sweet side (well at least for our tastes, as we have been low sugar for about a year now). But it may be perfectly suitable for the average sweet-tooth. To put it into perspective, my diagnosed son wanted to know why we were allowed to eat dessert for breakfast….. (more…)

My mom’s most requested cake is just a simple angel food cake with fresh fruit and whipped cream. She wanted me to bake her something I could eat too, so we decided to take a chance on baking an angel food cake with an alternative flour.

We thought it would work, since angel food cake only uses 1 cup of flour, and all the leavening comes from the dozen eggs in the recipe. But just in case, we bought a back-up cake at the grocery store.

You know what that means — it worked! Any time you’re ready with the back-up, you don’t need it, right? (more…)

This year for Dad’s birthday he had only one request: carrot cake. He’s not exactly gluten-free, but the rest of us are, so I decided to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I was pleasantly surprised with this one. It is a “from scratch” recipe, as sure sign that my gluten-free confidence is building. A year ago I would have never attempted such a feat. I researched ‘best’ carrot cake recipes of the traditional gluten variety and I finally settled on a game plan when I found a tried and true recipe from All Recipes.com that seemed to get the highest ratings from viewers. (more…)

I often joke that a year ago we could have been considered the “Mc Talty” family for all the times we would frequent McDonald’s. My then two year old was so familiar with the place that he felt compelled to point it out whenever we passed one in our travels. We’ve made a complete turn around since then, thanks in large part to our oldest son’s diagnosis of a chronic tic disorder and our subsequent discovery that he is allergic to wheat and corn and highly sensitive to gluten– three foods we since eliminated and made all the difference for him in his recovery.

This recipe is unique. What makes it special? It is not so much about the ingredients as it is about the preparation. You see, this Little Chef Salad is literally a salad made by my little chef, age 3, a former chicken nugget man turned foodie, a fella not diagnosed, but gluten free through association, and loving it. (more…)

No matter how you eat, whether it’s a restricted diet or not, it’s easy to get in a rut. We broke out of our rut with a “Spring is Coming” Salad Nicoise. Salad Nicoise is a French salad that traditionally includes hard boiled eggs, tuna and green beans.

While I often include tuna — a high quality Italian one packed in oil — this time I didn’t happen to have any, so I left it out. (more…)

If you’re avoiding dairy it’s not too hard to find a substitute since there are so many fine choices out there — various nut milks, soy milks, as well as rice milks. Most people gravitate toward nut milks and soy milks when they need to substitute for whole milk or cream in a recipe. But what do you do if you’re avoiding soy? The thickest of the milk substitutes, soy is a handy go to for the dairy-free baker. It’s the staple product in nearly all non-dairy frozen goodies. Let’s face it, no soy means no Tofutti Cuties! (more…)

Our church is hosting an annual pancake breakfast in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Everyone congregates in a large meeting hall and socializes while several volunteers stand elbow to elbow flipping endless flapjacks for an hour and a half. Volunteer bakers supply dozens of loaves of Irish soda bread and there are endless pots of coffee available to all. Sounds like a fantastic time, unless you happen to be on a gluten-free diet. These gluten, corn, and casein-free shamrock pancakes are designed to make the child in your family get just as festive as everyone else, and perhaps make the other kids a little green with envy…

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I have been trying to get my boys to eat asparagus for the longest time. As a great source of vitamins A, C, and folate, I am forever trying to serve up these gems. It has often led to a battle of wills, then an ingenious act of deception on my part, but this time my children ate them in broad daylight without a fuss. I created this side dish on a complete whim and my boys loved it. My eldest said it tasted like ‘bees honey’ and after much cajoling and a promise that he could ’spit it out’ at the table if he needed to, my middle child (he’s the one that’s three), said (and I quote): “Mommy! This is not yucky!” What is my secret? (more…)

Choosing a new pancake mix is the first and easiest transition in the kitchen when going gluten free. When I first went gluten free I thought I would have a hard time retiring my favorite homemade pancake mix, but what I soon learned was that there are a multitude of gluten-free pancake mixes on the market these days. Choosing a good mix can be a costly venture if you have to sample six varieties before settling on one with a taste and texture that meets your criteria. (more…)