Family Friday: Christmas Baking

Dear Friends and Family,

There's nothing that screams Christmas more than some holiday-themed baking!

Gluten-Free Friday Becomes....

Good morning, family and friends!
Been thinking for several weeks about some changes...

Gluten Free Friday: Black Bean Brownies

Welcome to Gluten Free Friday!

I have talked so much about this particular recipe that I have had friends and family beg me to pass it on to them. 

So...here it is:

Black Bean Brownies

Gluten-Free Fridays: Meal Planning

Meal Planning:

This particular subject has less to do with being gluten-free and more to do with how 

I budget.

Meal planning helps me stay within my grocery budget.

It also helps with making sure I am "shopping" my pantry and using things up,

instead of buying things I don't need.

So first things first:

For Breakfast and Lunch, I have a menu that really doesn't change too much

unless it is neccesary.

Breakfast Menu Looks Like This:

Sunday- Oatmeal

Monday- Eggs

Tuesday- Oatmeal

Wednesday- Smoothies

Thursday- Pancakes

Friday- Eggs

Saturday- GF Cereal

Lunch Menu Looks Like This:

Monday: Homemade Ramon

Tuesday: Tomato Soup

Wednesday: GF Mac N Cheese

Thursday Leftovers

Friday: Meat, Cheese, Nuts Smorgasborg

These menus get changed up every couple months as the seasons change.

In the summer we tend to do more salads and cold things for lunch.

When it comes to my dinner menus, it's a little more involved and I make it out every 2.5-3 weeks.

Here are the steps I take:

1. I go through my pantry, cupboards and freezer to see what I have.

2. I figure out what recipes will use what I have.

 I look through my recipe box for tried and true recipes.

3. I also get on Super Cook and see what interesting recipes I could try.

4. I get out a piece of paper and my calendar.

5. I then look at my calendar for the period I am making my menu and decide

what dinners would work best on which night.

(For instance, I prefer having a crockpot meal on Wednesday nights because that is easier

for heading to church afterwards. Rather than GF pizza that takes some prep time,)

6. Then I make out my menu. It looks something like this: 

Yes, I have my menu in a nice frame on the kitchen wall!

If you can read it, you will notice that there are a couple question marks. 

On those nights, we typically do whatever comes to mind, breakfast-for-dinner or

what my family calls "Fend For Yourself" which is their absolute favorite.

They are free to raid the pantry and frig to see what they can come up with.

I also put the date and day of the week on my menus. 

The date is more for me to keep track as I am writing out the menu,

the days of the week make it easy for the kids to quickly see what is on the menu for the night.

And there you have it, how I meal plan or make a menu!

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Numbers 6:24-26

Gluten-Free Friday: Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup

YUM!

This is the word that best describes

Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup!

Last night for dinner, I was able to combine two of my loves:

My Crockpot

Butternut Squash

My grandma gave me a call a couple days ago and told me that

she had several butternut squashes that required eating quick.

Being one to:

a) love free stuff that I can use

b) appreciate my grandma's large garden

c) love a challenge

I told her I would be happy to take them off her hands!

Yesterday I got online and found this yummy recipe that involved

my favorite kitchen tool, my Instant Pot/Crockpot.

Now...I'm not a fool. I knew that 96% of my family would HATE it.

Apparently, the five-year-old and I are the only ones that love adore 

squash...

of all kinds!

Side Note Time: When he moved into our home over a year ago, I couldn't get him

to eat a vegetable to save my life. I had to resort to all kinds of crazy methods to get veggies

in him. Now the boy eats anything I put in front of him.

That being said, my family also needs to get used to eating more of a variety of veggies.

It's true, ya'll, you do! And you know it!

Being a kind person, I also provided chicken noodle soup for their consumption.

You know, just in case butternut squash soup might be the end of the world.

{insert eye roll here}

I will say, at least 50% of my family tried the butternut.

Out of those four, 50% of us LOVED it.

25% said that it made a good dip for crackers and

the remaining 25% were non-committal.

Along with our yummy soup, I tried a new Bob's Red Mill GF package.

I gave their cornbread a try and that was an instant success 100%.

All in all, I count this recipe a success even if only two of us love it.

It will be going in the recipe box, for sure!

The plus side, I was able to freeze the remaining soup in little individual 

containers to heat up later.

Although I had to pull one back out when my five-year-old informed me that he 

wanted it for lunch today because it was:

DEEEEEEEEEEE-licious!

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Numbers 6:24-26

Gluten-Free Friday: Recipe Organization

For anyone who knows me, I'm a practicing minimalist. In other words, it's a constant struggle with a family of eight, but I prefer the less is more concept.

This even comes down to my recipes. If I buy a recipe book, I have to know that I can use 95% of the recipes not just one or two.

Since 2011, I have used a 8.5x11 binder for my recipes. I had most of the recipes either in plastic sleeves or laminated. I realized when we made the life choice to go wheat/gluten free that many of the recipes just would not convert to GF easily and there was no point in hanging on to them. Some recipes I hadn't used in a long time and I knew I would need to try them again and see if we still like them.

I finally decided that in order to make sure I am fixing my family recipes that they know and love, that I needed to reorganize my recipes. I asked Peter if I could have a recipe box for Christmas and he blessed me with this one:

How do I organize my recipes?

1) When I get a recipe to try (whether from a friend, cookbook etc), I write it out or cut it out and put it in the front of my recipe box.

2) Once I have tried the recipe and made any adjustments needed, then I carefully write it out onto a recipe card and then I laminate the card.

 Fun Fact: Did you know that to feed our family of 8, I often need to double 

or even triple a recipe?

3) Then I pop the recipe into my box under the proper index card.

4) I had several recipes that may not be GF but are part of our family heritage that I wanted to keep with us and possibly see how we can make them GF (gluten-free). Regardless, it is special to have recipes from our grandparents!

See? Easy Cleanup of your recipe.

No need to worry about your  cookbook or recipe card getting dirty!

This makes it SO much easier when it comes time to clean up.

 Simply wipe off the recipe card with a damp cloth.

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Numbers 6:24-26

Gluten-Free Fridays: Cauliflower Fiasco

Some recipes just don't make the cut...

Gluten-Free Friday: Pizza!

Welcome to Gluten-Free Friday and our first food post!

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Gluten Free Friday: So....What Do You Eat?

When you say gluten/wheat- free, you often can see panic arise in people's eyes!

It's actually quite amusing to watch people twitch and ask you what you eat now.

I have found that I am fuller and have fewer cravings since 

eliminating wheat.

I thought it might be fun for you to see what I ate one day:

Breakfast: an arrangement of nuts, an orange, and celery with cream cheese.

Lunch: meat, cheese, pecans, and cucumber! Yum!

Dinner: an assortment of veggies, avocado, and hummus.

We basically eat a TON of veggies, nuts, meats, and dairy.

We haven't eliminated all grains. We eat a limited amount of corn.

However, other grains we eat are rice, quinoa, and oats.

We have found that it is fairly easy to switch out ingredients that call for wheat flour etc.

And if you can't figure it out, there are TONS of recipes online and on youtube!

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi

Numbers 6:24-26

Gluten-Free Fridays: Why Gluten Free?

Why would you go gluten-free?