Cooking gluten and diary free... because everyone deserves a cookie!
How was your week? My father-in-law blew in for a short visit this weekend (Friday through this morning), so we had a nice weekend just relaxing with him. He hung out with my son while he worked on his car (sadly not running for a while now) and it looks like it is almost ready to get back on the road with the work they did. Yay, Zach, and thank you, Grandpa Tim!
My week …
The weather couldn’t be more perfect heading into the Fourth of July. I’m actually writing this on Sunday afternoon and I am feeling extremely blessed today ~ sitting in the hammock on the porch, iced coffee nearby, a dog snoozing next to me while I write. I can hear the chickens cooing at each other in the back and my youngest laughing with the neighborhood kids down the street. For me it couldn’t get any better!
I have two days off in a row this week. Woo-hoo! My husband and I both have off on the 4th, so we are planning on seeing the fireworks at a lake that holds them a day early with a whole lot of pre-firework festivities and fun. As he works (EARLY) on the 5th, this means we get to spend a great time together as a family, we ALL get to sleep in after a late night if we want, and we’ll still have a whole day off of fun food and relaxation without rushing anywhere on the actual day of the 4th. I can’t wait!
Grocery list for this week’s menu. (Updated template is still in the works. Will update when complete.)
Calico Beans, mixed greens salad with strawberries and Orange Poppy Seed Dressing, Corn Bread
Slow Cooker Carnitas, gluten free wraps (gluten free flour-style), with all the fixings (fresh salsa, guac, chopped tomatoes, sautéed peppers and onions, etc.), spicy rice, Tex-Mex Chopped Salad. Gluten free strawberry and blueberry shortcake for dessert with Whipped Coconut Topping.
One Pan Kielbasa & Noodle Casserole, sliced cucumbers and grapes
Chicken Pumpkin Enchilada Casserole and Cilantro Cashew Salad
Garlicky Shrimp Skewers (working on recipe. Will post if yummy.)
Hi! I’ve got some news. Pretty big news for me. 🙂 Flame Tree Publishing and I put together this fun and BEAUTIFUL book full of delicious gluten free recipes. I can’t tell you how excited I am about it!
Measurements are set for UK and American-style measuring, so everyone wherever you are can mix up something good. It is an all gluten free book with dairy free alternatives for every recipe. Right now you can pre-order it on Amazon (publishing date is set for September 17th) at a discounted price. Woo-hoo! You know I love a bargain!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Disclaimer: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you delicious recipes and real information about gluten free/ dairy free living and wellness.
(Here is my girl when she turned 6… My, how she has grown. When did that happen?)
Hello! It is definitely trying to be Spring around here. Saturday was beautiful and there are cute little green sprouts making their way bravely into the world. Woo-hoo!
This week my baby will be turning 14 years old. She has been such a joy and is growing into an amazing young woman with a big heart for others. I am so happy that she has …
Last week did not go as planned. My daughter has all sorts of fun planned with dress rehearsals, the middle school play, cast party, etc. But after opening night on Thursday, she was extremely tired and her throat felt a bit scratchy. You know where this is going, right? By Friday afternoon, her fever had jumped up and we knew she wasn’t going anywhere for a few days. Well, after five days she is finally better and back to school. Oof, the flu is no fun, poor kiddo…
With a little sicky at home, I shifted our menu plan for someone with a tummy that was a bit flip-floppy and decided to post today what we ended up eating along with the remaining week’s plan. She subsisted for a few days on smoothies, coconut water, gf crackers and dry gluten-free toast. By Monday she finally felt a little hungry and her fever was going down, so I made homemade chicken soup made with bone broth and plenty of roasted garlic. Yum! It sure hit the spot for all of us!
Monday: Homemade Roasted Chicken and Garlic Noodle Soup
Tuesday: Mini Frittas with fruit
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Roast (from the freezer) – if my daughter is not up to pork roast, she’ll have leftover soup.
Thursday: Teriyaki Chicken with broccoli over rice
Friday: Leftover chicken soup with Gluten Free French Bread and a salad
**It has been so long since I posted that I can’t seem to get a photo in here without some big time updates. I’ll work on that… In the meantime imagine a pic of me hanging out with my silly pup, Blaze.**
I haven’t posted much for the past couple of years because the universe was out to get me my schedule has been a bit tricky. I suppose what I was living during that time could be considered a failure to learn from my past, but I like to think of it as a terminal sort of optimism that makes me charming. You see, every time I have an intensive sort of schedule, I look at the calendar, do the math in my head, and then think “Oh, it’ll be just fine.” It’s like I think that everything that was difficult about me juggling the snot out of managing that many time commitments at once has completely gone away, or that I have a time machine, suddenly been endowed with super powers… or that I have become a completely different sort of person than I actually am. At some point this time I did realize I am still me, and it will still be a problem and maybe, just maybe I can choose to make some changes. With two kiddos in college now TWO, how did that happen? the need to make a certain income to pay for that did dominate my crazy schedule this past couple years. However, I now basically have my dream job in just one regular full-time job (not 5 individual part-time jobs-YAY!) that allows me time for a regular paced life and sleep and all those things that I heard are so popular. Some people might say that is boring, but trust me, boring is where it’s at.
Since finishing the last big right now secret, but I’ll tell you as soon as I can project, I have been enjoying doing things like sleeping 8 hours, sitting on the couch to watch a movie with the family, and simply breathing. It’s been nice. I am at the stage in my over-work recovery that I have started to look around the house and wondered, “who lives here? Do they own a vacuum? Ew…” Consequently, over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to tidy things up a tiny bit. Not the entire house, that would be madness. I worked out long ago that a totally pristine house was beyond my reality. I mean, I clean up, and then someone usually me, which is really disappointing trashes the house and it needs to be cleaned again. Now that I am a woman of mature years more on years, less on maturity, I choose to focus on simple small areas to tidy up instead of panicking over the house as a whole. It is funny how when a cupboard is organized, or a drawer is cleaned, things end up being put away in there almost by magic because you know where they go. Weird….
Also, a completely organized house is not happening simply because I live here, and I am at peace about that. I do leave a trail of things in my wake and have a tendency to keep little projects and books scattered throughout the house ready for when I come back to different chairs. However, I AM organized with food, and I have quite a few things going to revamp my freezer space and get a nice rotating schedule of meals happening that I can’t wait to share with you.
Over the past couple years I have become even more committed to meal scheduling, freezer cooking and my beautiful slow cooker more than ever as without them my family would never have had a hot meal with the craziness that was going on. Now that things have slowed down, I finally have the time to share the delicious solutions I used during the crazy time AND I can start experimenting again with fun ‘just because’ recipes. I am excited to get started and share everything with you as I go. My youngest is now in eighth grade which is unbelievable to me and has always been really into baking. She’ll be helping with the baking and learning to take photos as well. She and I are also quite excited about literary recipes and are working on some fun things in that area. But for now, I’ll stick with my new mantra and just start with one thing. Our menu plan for this week.
This week is a busy one for the family as my daughter is on stage crew for the middle school play. It is dress rehearsal week and next weekend is the play. Consequently, our meals are being made ahead today, or pulled from the freezer for this week. We’ll be a warm-and-go family this week, but still eating well.
Monday: mom has a day off. I’l be baking up a storm and prepping this week’s meals. Making Chocolate Chip Banana Bread and Lemon Poppy Seed Bread. Half will be portioned to serve with eggs for breakfast, and half will be packaged for others weeks in the freezer. Spicy Sweet Glazed Chicken on salad
Tuesday: Taco Chili in the slow cooker with Corn Bread
Wednesday: Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
Thursday: Beef Enchilada Casserole
Friday: Tuna Noodle & Veggie Casserole
For more menu inspiration, visit Heather of Celiac Family and Organized Junkie.
Heather @CeliacFamily February 27, 2017 at 2:10 pm [edit]
Busy with plays at our house, too! Tech week for one play, and another one starting rehearsals today.
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angelaskitchen March 8, 2017 at 9:03 am [edit]
‘Tis the season for plays! ???? Gotta love it!
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Amy March 1, 2017 at 2:42 pm [edit]
Hi! I discovered your website just a few weeks ago. We have started my son on the GFCF diet, and your site has been an absolute God-send! I was worried that it was an inactive blog, since nothing had been posted for so long, but I’m super thrilled to see you’re doing well and back on the site. Thanks a million!
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angelaskitchen March 8, 2017 at 9:01 am [edit]
Hi! Yep, getting my blogging feet back under me and getting things underway again. ???? So glad to meet you! Let me know if there is anything in particular you need a recipe for. I may already have published it, or I may have a recipe and never put it on here. Just let me know. Have a great week!
When I want a quick pizza on a busy night, or the convenience of being able to simply pop one in after a long, hard day store-bought frozen pizzas are all well and good for a quick last minute meal. And while there is finally some gluten free (and one or two gluten AND dairy free) options out there, I prefer to get my convenience food a bit closer to home. Well, actually IN my home by making my own ready to eat frozen pizzas. Homemade pizza can’t be beat for flavor, variety or cost.
I like to get the whole family involved when I can if we are making extra things to put in the freezer, and let me tell ya, pizza is the perfect meal to pull everyone in to help! Kids of almost any age …
Only one more week until my son has spring break and another 3 days later until the girls start theirs. Woo! Can’t wait to get all my kiddos home. Until then, this week is pretty low key. We’re all …
