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…)

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…)

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…)

Potato Leek soup seemed like a good idea when I saw leeks on sale this morning at the store. I’ve never attempted it before but we’re in the middle of a cold spell with more snow planned. I knew I wanted a nice hot soup after the boots, hats and mittens come off. I loosely modeled this leek soup after Emeril’s version. It is spicy, but I completely left out the dairy and instead added more of everything else. In the end I had a 2 quart slow cooker brimming with a delicious soup that took only 1/2 hour to throw together and about 3 hours to simmer. The kids loved it, and so I thought I would add this one to the collection. It is gluten, corn, soy, egg, and dairy-free.

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Here is a quick healthy snack that will use up that leftover salmon from last night’s dinner. The kids and I whipped this up in five minutes and it was polished off in about the same time. The boys all gave this one a perfect score. My oldest thought it deserved 15 out of 10 points. That is a record for sure! I’m wondering if the judges were just a little biased since they were also the in-house chefs?

This snack includes about 1 1/2 cups of raw veggies and is Gluten, Corn, Egg, Soy, and Casein-free. Here is what we did…. (more…)

I’ve been making A to Z bread for years, aptly named because you could basically add anything from A to Z and still use the same recipe. I got the original recipe from Real food for Real People, and recently altered it to fit my new dietary needs. I replaced the wheat/white flour with a gluten-free flour blend that I mixed myself. The results were great.

The original A to Z recipe calls for 3 cups of white flour and then allows for 2 cups of any 31 fruits or vegetables on their list, starting with grated apples and ending with grated zucchini. The version you see pictured here is Pumpkin Bread. It is gluten, corn, and casein-free. It is easy to make and bakes up in about one hour. (more…)

After practicing a gluten and corn-free diet for nearly a year I often run into people that say it is just too expensive or too inconvenient to be completely gluten-free. I decided to commit some time to developing recipes that don’t require any special alternative ingredients and can be easily made by anyone on a budget.

This dish is a great getting started recipe. All the ingredients can be found at your local grocer. We reserve this one for the weekends, because even though it only takes about 30 minutes to prepare, we buy a 6 lb bird that requires nearly 3 1/2 hours in the oven. (more…)