Gluten Free [Cooking School]

It looks like Amazon is really pushing its gluten free products during November.  You can get a 25% discount on certain Gluten Free Pantry mixes (10% off +15% Subscribe and Save discount) when you purchase before November 30th.

Here’s a list of what is on sale:
Chocolate Truffle Brownie Mix
Country French Bread Mix
Old Fashioned Cake and Cookie Mix
Brown Rice Pancake and Waffle Mix
Coffee Cake Mix
Decadent Chocolate Cake Mix
Muffin & Scone Mix
Chocolate Chip Cookie & Cake Mix
Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix
Beth’s Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix
Spice Cake & Gingerbread Mix
Yankee Cornbread Mix
Perfect Pie Crust Mix
Crisp & Crumble Topping Mix

Click here to get the promotional code. And thanks for supporting this blog by using my link for your shopping!

Last Monday morning I was cleaning up the kitchen and discovered that we had somehow accumulated 10 very ripe bananas in the back of the freezer. John has been asking for a loaf of banana bread for several months and he’d obviously done a good job at stashing away the bananas that I would need for the bread.  After the bananas had thawed on the counter for a bit (and after I had rearranged the kitchen) i settle in for a bit of baking.

Sidenote: If you’ve never used frozen bananas, you’ve got to try it. It really is fun (and a bit gross) to squeeze the thawed bananas out of the peels =)

I was feeling a little nostalgic so I decided to use a recipe from my high school’s cookbook. The recipe was contributed by a long time family friend, which seemed appropriate for a recipe that I can remember eating since I was a child.  I did my best to stay true to the recipe, but I did reduce the sugar and make the recipe gluten free and casein free. I would have added 2 c. nuts, but we didn’t have any and I didn’t really miss them. Continue Reading »

Just a quick note to let you know that Amazon is running a 10% discount on some Bob’s Red Mill items. If you combine that discount with their Subscribe & Save discount, then you’ll get a whopping 25% off of your order.

Here are a few of the eligible items that you might want to stock up on for holiday baking:

Almond Meal/Flour
Flaxseed Meal
Organic Coconut Flour
Active Dry Yeast
Nutritional Yeast
Teff Flour
Gluten Free Brownie Mix

The following link will take you to the sale page on Amazon. If you click through the link, I’ll also receive 4% - 6% of the purchase price as a commission.

10% Off Bob’s Red Mill Products

Menu Planning for Two (weeks that is):

Sometimes it really helps me to brainstorm my menus in my blogging software….and since the menu is already in a post, I thought I’d share it with you. If any of the meals, catch your eye, let me know in the comments and I’ll make a note to post about it.  In the next few weeks I’ll be doing trial runs of some of the side dishes that I’d like to make for Thanksgiving, so there will soon be several new recipes if all goes well.

When I was typing out my menu, I kept thinking of all of these great dishes that I wanted to make.  I decided to go ahead and plan the emails for an entire budget period, since that allows me to better estimate what we’ll be spending on groceries. Later tonight I’ll make out grocery lists and make sure that we’re under budget.

P.S. I just found out that the Gluten Free Menu Swap is being hosted by Angela’s Kitchen this week. Head over to her site on Tuesday to check out the round-up of gluten free menus!

Grocery Shopping Online:

I’ve started ordering some of my groceries from a local online grocery  and I love being able to see the exact price of what is in my shopping cart as I add new items.  The site saves my shopping cart, so I can leave the list up for an extended period of time to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything or to give me time to rethink the menu if I’m spending too much. They also deliver the groceries to our house the next day for a minimal delivery fee. It sure beats spending an hour or two at the grocery store each week!

The online market’s selection of produce is not as varied as I would like, so I’ll also do shop for fresh produce at a nearby supermarket a couple of times a week. However, my goal is to not by anything but fresh produce when I’m there. We’ll see how that goes!

Upcoming Posts:

And, while I’m thinking about it: I made a great loaf of banana bread this morning so I’ll be posting that recipe this week, along with an article about our recent restaurant experiences in Nashville and St. Louis, new thoughts on how to travel gluten free, and why we’re thinking about making the jump to a vegan diet.

Menu for November 3rd - November 16th

Monday, Nov. 3: White Beans and Pesto, Tomato Soup, Spoonbread Corn Muffins

Tuesday, Nov. 4: Vegetable Soup with Hummus Sandwiches

Wednesday, Nov. 5: Cashew Nut Tofu over Brown Rice; Japanese Salad

Thursday, Nov. 6: Country Fried Steak (Vegan) & Mashed Potatoes or Curried Sweet Potatoes

Friday, Nov. 7: Pizza; Greek Salad

Saturday, Nov. 8: Spinach and Tofu Onigiri and Homemade Sushi

Sunday, Nov. 9: Roasted Veggies, Bean Puree, Dad’s Brown Rice, Layered Salad

Monday, Nov. 10: Sloppy Joes on Toast and Tater Tots

Tuesday, Nov. 11: Black Bean Soup and Veggie Fajitas

Wednesday, Nov. 12 White Bean Corn Chowder, Spinach Salad with Red Onion and Mandarin Oranges, Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

Thursday, Nov. 13 Spaghetti with Spinach Meatballs, Green Salad

Friday, Nov. 14: Chickpea & Dumplings; Green Salad, Yeast Rolls

Saturday, Nov 15: Grilled Pizza, Ranch Pasta Salad

Sunday, Nov 16:Hot Meatball Subs

For the past few weeks. . . or maybe months, I’ve been in a holding pattern. I keep waiting for life to ease up, so that I can spend time cooking. I keep waiting to feel less queasy, and waiting for a clean house, and waiting for more energy, and waiting for a creative thought.  And in the meantime not much is getting done.  That’s depressing. And thinking about all of the things that need to be done and that I want to do is overwhelming.

This weekend I had a new thought. I realized that life was not necessarily going to get any easier in the near future. None of the pieces of life that make it full right now are things that I want to give up.  But I need to enjoy living through them.  This will be the only time that David is so excited about school buses, and the only time that John is launching this busines, and the only time that I will be pregnant with this child. I need to be present and enjoy this moment of my life.

And I realized that many of you are probably just as overwhelmed. And that it might help you to hear how I’m working through the same things. And that you might see that it’s still possible to put good gluten free food on the table every night in the midst of a full life.  And it might help me accept that it’s okay to not create 3 new recipes every single week!

So in that spirit here are a few of the things that we’ve been eating lately. No recipes, no pictures, just a list to get my fingers and mind moving again =)

1. Apple Scones with a Pecan Crumb Topping
2. Red Pepper Hummus
3. Homemade Sushi Rolls with Tofu, Cucumber, and Apple (David loved these!)
4. Baked Potatoes topped with Okra & Tomato Stew
5. Potato Salad (one of my pregnancy cravings)
6. Portabella Sandwiches with Onion Gravy
7.  Cornbread Dressing with Gravy
8.  Pancakes with Maple Syrup
9.  Thai Cashew Nut Tofu
10. Homemade Pizza topped with Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, Black Olives, and Sliced Mozzarella