Major Changes

I'm back and I have lots to share with you about changes my family has made and where we are going. We have eliminated more foods, had a big change in our daily life and I have some exciting news for you! I also have tons of tasty recipes coming your way I promise!
We are now a gluten, dairy, food coloring and gmo corn free family. I have also found that I react to citric acid. I know weird right?! Through much trial and error we have found that my boys react to gmo corn the same way the react to gluten. If you are unsure what a gmo is check here.
On the home front after many struggles, tummy aches and getting picked on I have pulled Cameron from school. It had gotten to the point where he was constantly getting cross contaminated at school from everything it seemed like. The school tried hard but there is so many rewards at school that involve food that it became an uphill battle. Cameron would detox over the weekend and do alright the first few days but by the end of the week he was a mess. We are still detoxing but my guy is starting to come back to himself.
As for the changes coming to the blog I want to know what you want to see. Do you want to know about our homeschooling or would you rather just have the yummy recipes?

Rudi's Giveaway!!

I love Rudi's and use them in my daily life. You can read about their tortilla shells here. Right now Rudi's is having a contest to have people go on a hunt to find Soft & Fluffy. We all know that when it comes to gluten free breads soft and fluffy are often two things that are missing.
Rudi's new bread is to offer gluten free bread that is soft and fluffy. (Yea!) To help you find Soft & Fluffy Rudi's is giving away a package of tools to one lucky reader that will help you find Soft & Fluffy. (This package is awesome!)

To help with you quest here is the package from Rudi's that one of you, my lucky readers will win!

* Compass
* Field Notebook
* Organic Trail Mix (My kids love this one!)
* Peter Rabbit organic fruit snack
* Kelty Backpack
* Stainless steel water bottle

To enter leave a comment on this post saying where you think Soft & Fluffy can be found.
What creative places do you think you can find Soft & Fluffy?

This giveaway will end  January 30th at midnight.





Contest is now close. The winner is kjsmoma!! Thanks for entering everyone!

The Crazy things of life

Hello, is anyone still out there? Things have been crazy here lately and I don't know where the time is going. We have been doing some major house cleaning and reorganizing which has left me no time to do much. Look for big changes coming in the form of several giveaways and new recipes! I am so excited to get back to sharing with all of you about some of the yummy dishes I have made. Here is some of the recipes I have made while I was away.

Paleo "goldfish"
Paleo "ranch" crackers
Low sugar Fruit and Nut cookies
Vegan tacos
No-Cheese, Cheese Sauce
Chicken Freezer Cooking
More canning
Forgotten cookies
Dog treats
Cherry Walnut Cookies

And I have a bulk buying trip to an Amish store coming up too!

What have you been up to?

Multi colored cupcakes - no artificial food coloring

For Cameron's 6th birthday party he wanted multi colored cupcakes like the traditional Funfetti© cake mixes. Since those are out on many levels I set out to make my own. And while I was at it I figured why not make each color a different flavor? They were a hit at the party and Cameron was able to have fun cupcakes that wouldn't bother him.

Multi Colored Cupcakes

What you need:

3 eggs or egg replacer (I used EnerG) 

2 cups sugar (I used organic)

1 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups gluten free flour mix of choice (make sure it has xanthum gum or guar gum)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups shredded zucchini 
natural food colors (I use these)

Directions:
If using egg replacer, combine with water according to directions and let sit. 

Combine in a mixer bowl, the eggs or egg replacer, sugar, oil and vanilla. Sift together the flour mix, baking soda and salt. Add the sifter flour mix to the mixer bowl and stir until combined. Add in the zucchini and mix well. If using frozen zucchini, let thaw and add both the zucchini and the extra water from the zucchini. Divide the batter into three or four bowl, one for each color. Natural red does not work well for this but the other colors work. Add the natural food coloring to each bowl until desired color is reached. Oil three or four 8x8 pans and add one color to each pan. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out colors and let cool. Once cooled cut into bit size pieces and set aside. 

My Birthday Boy!

To make colored cupcakes make another recipe of the above cake but don't add the food coloring. Line 24 muffin tins with papers and add enough batter to each liner to cover the bottom. Add in the cooked and cooled colored cake bites and top with remaining batter. Bake 18 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Make sure when you toothpick them that you don't hit a already cooked color piece. Remove from pans and let cool completely before icing. 

Finished Cake

Orgran is GMO free

I have recently figured out that my kids react to GMO corn the same way they do gluten. This has lead me to cut out GMO's and contacting companies to find out what they use. I wanted to share the recent reply I received from Orgran. While I have not tried their products yet, I ordered several of them to try and I will let you know how they are.
Here is their reply.

              

Thank-you for your email and interest into the Orgran range of gluten free products.

All of Orgran products are GMO free. We used to have GMO free statement on all of Orgran products. However, due to the requirement on some of the countries that we exported our products to, we had to remove the GMO free statement from our packaging.

For your reference I have copied below some additional information regarding our range.

Currently we have over 80 gluten free lines ranging from the best tasting pasta available (Rice & Corn), pancake mixes, bread mixes, flour mixes, fruit bars, falafel mix, canned spaghetti, biscuits, snacks and more.

The entire range of Orgran products are:
Wheat free
Gluten free
Dairy/lactose and casein free
Yeast free
Egg free
Contain no animal derivatives
GMO free

ORGRAN products consist of a very comprehensive range of foods specifically developed for dietetic requirements such as coeliacs, allergies, diabetics, athletes and the health conscious consumer.

In accordance with the ORGRAN philosophy and stringent quality guidelines we do not use or store GM ingredients, artificial additives, food preservatives, stabilizers, flavour enhancers, dairy, animal derived ingredients or wheat.

As specialised producers we adhere to strictest international standards and in order to maintain purity status of our dietetic products we do not process wheat or gluten containing cereals or additive derivatives on our premises. 

I hope this is helpful, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like any additional information.

Thank-you again for your interest in Orgran

Best Regards,

Jeffrey Wangsadipura

Senior Quality Assurance Officer

Email: * jeffrey@orgran.com

Apple sandwiches

Are you looking for a fun and easy lunch or snack? Here is a fun idea that I found on pinterest.

Apple Sandwiches
What you need:
Apples
Peanut Butter or Sun Butter
Mini dairy free chocolate chips, dried fruit or other fillers

Directions:
Slice the apple into slices and core. Or if you have an apple corer, core the apple first and then slice. Spread your nut butter or sun butter on apple slices and top with the filling of choice. My kids found these to make an amazing lunch and loved eating them.

Beef Freezer Cooking

A few people want to know what my 2 freezer cooking groups do and what we cook.When we cook we pick a common ingredient this time it was beef but we have also done chicken, pork, breakfast, sides and sweet treats. We pick 3 to 4 meals and double them so we each have 6 to 8 meals per family.

This month we cooked

Ground Beef Stroganoff

Meatballs/Meatloaf (I use gluten free crackers and each person picks how they want their meal)

Slow Cooker French Dip

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef (Use gluten free soy sauce)

Remember that we double each recipe per person.

The night before I browned the ground beef for the stroganoff and prepped all the onions in the food processor. The next day one person finished making the stroganoff using olive oil instead of the fat. While she was doing that I started on the Mongolian beef and the third person started the French dips. We did our french dips in our slow cookers and had the dip cook all day to eat that night. Then we froze the leftovers for another meal later. Then as I finished the Mongolia beef the other two started on the meatballs/meatloaf. (Use gluten free crackers) We love this recipe because it works well as both meatballs and meatloaf. We bake them at 375* until done, this depends on the thickness of your meatloaf and how big your meatballs are. We then did dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and we home to fill our freezers. It is a small way to start filling your freezer for nights that you don't know what to cook.