Diana Sauce

Here's a little info from the Diana website to tell you which of their products are gluten free:

None of the Diana® Gravy products are gluten free. However, one Diana® Sauce variety and three of the Diana® Marinade varieties are gluten free. They are as follows:

Diana® Sauce: Gourmet Western Smokehouse Diana® Marinade: Spicy Southwest Diana® Marinade: Steak Spice Diana® Marinade: Teriyaki

I used to love the Diana Sauces for cooking with meatballs...I'll have to find some of the Gourmet Western Smokehouse sauce to try. I also just found this recipe for Smokehouse Layered Dip that looks delicious. I'm going to have to make this soon!

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Crepe Lasagna

Last week I discovered an awesome food blog called Elemental Custard. Mara's recipe for Crepe Lasagna caught my eye immediately. I have not made lasagna since we went gluten free. Yes, we can buy gluten free lasagna noodles (and we have a package), but I just wasn't inspired. I was probably avoiding yet another sub-par experience with a gluten free substitute for something that is meant to be made with gluten. Mara actually prefers Crepe Lasagna to regular gluten-noodle lasagna. Here is a quote from her site:

Let me tell you, unless you LIKE rubbery, thick wads of pasta, you'll never want to go back.

I love it! After being gluten free (at home) for the last year or more I'm starting to have less and less interest in gluten foods. I don't need to eat gluten free - it is only for BoyBee that our house is gluten free. And our food is "cleaner" because of it. I don't mind it one bit. Elemental Custard is not a gluten free blog, but so many recipes are easy to modify to make them gluten free that I don't want to limit myself to reading only gluten free blogs. I'm glad I've kept an open mind :)

I use a fantastic gluten free crepe recipe from Silvana Nardone's cookbook "Cooking for Isaiah", and I don't feel like I am missing a thing. The lasagna turned out great, but Mara's pictures turned out better so I'm nabbing a couple from her site to share with you...

Thank you Elemental Custard for restoring my inspiration to make lasagna!

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Arthur's Smoothies and Bolthouse Farms

Just a quick, "gluten status" post for today...

The FAQ page of Arthur's Smoothies states that Arthur's Smoothies are gluten-free...and...the FAQ page for Bolthouse Farms states

With the exception of Protein Plus Strawberry Parfait, all of our beverages are gluten-free.

Happy holidays everyone!

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Peanut Butter Balls

Christmas and delicious food go hand in hand. I am sitting here thinking about all the wonderful food we are planning to make over the holidays and I can't wait! Dutch Pancake piled high with strawberries, bananas, blueberries and whipped cream, fresh croissants, Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies for Santa, Chocolate Molten Cakes, Hungry-man Breakfast, Roasted Chestnuts...and maybe even a cheesecake...

I love Christmas baking. A few days ago BoyBee helped me make Peanut Butter Balls. It was such a simple recipe - perfect for little hands to help with. The filling needs a bit of time to set in the fridge but the actual hands-on time required to put these together is minimal.

See if you can resist making these classic treats...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup chunky peanut butter (I use Kraft)
2 1/4 cup icing sugar
1 3/4 cup crushed rice cereal (I use Nature's Path)
1 cup chocolate chips (I use Hershey's Chipits)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (I use Crisco)

Directions:

1) Melt the butter and peanut butter together in a saucepan.

2) In a medium bowl mix together the icing sugar and crushed rice cereal. (Note: I use the Magic Bullet to crush up the rice cereal and it does a fantastic job. Be sure to leave some bigger pieces though so you still have a nice crunch.)

3) Add the butter/peanut butter mixture to the icing sugar/cereal mixture. Mix well, then place in the fridge to set. Clean up and then go relax with a good book. Come back in 30-60 minutes.

4) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll up the mixture into 1" balls and place on the baking sheet. You'll have to give each one a firm squeeze to help hold it all together. Place the baking sheet in the fridge for another 20 minutes or longer.

5) Melt together the chocolate chips and shortening in a bowl in the microwave. It usually takes just over a minute for me. Stir and put it back in if needed.

6) Using two forks roll the peanut butter balls in the melted chocolate and place back on the baking sheet. Set in the fridge for at least an hour before eating.

Enjoy and share!

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Christmas Confections

There are goodies at every turn around the holidays, so I thought I'd check into some of the most popular store-bought Christmas confections to see what is safe...Hopefully this list makes it easier for you to feel comfortable picking up a candy from your co-worker's desk!

Safe List (but double check for yourself)

Pot of Gold (Hershey's, read the label)

Turtles (Nestle, read the label)

Allan Candy Canes (Allan, read the label)

Toblerone (Kraft, read the label)

After Eight Thin Mints and Straws (Nestle, read the label)

See's Peanut Brittle (this is the best peanut brittle you will ever taste - worth every penny - makes a great gift)

Ganong Delecto

York Peppermint Patties (Hershey's, read the label)

Unsafe List

Lindt - risk of cross-contamination

Ferrero Rocher - contains wheat

Quality Street - contains glucose-fructose (from wheat and/or corn)

Terry's Chocolate orange - may contain wheat

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Children's Books

With Christmas coming up I thought I would post some book suggestions for the gluten-free children on your list. I searched Amazon.com for "gluten" in Children's Books and there were 43 results. Wow - we are coming a long way. I seem to recall doing a similar search last year and there were only three or four. I am certainly happy to see so many Children's books covering Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance. I think we all know a child who has an issue with gluten.

Here are some of the highlights:

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Croissants

Are there any foods that you still haven't found great gluten free versions of? Our list is getting really short, but one of the outstanding items was croissants up until a few days ago. BoyBee and I made gluten free croissants from Gluten-Free on a Shoestring and they were fantastic. They surprised the whole family, as well as the select few that we shared them with.

I am not saying that these croissants are any comparison to the delicious gluten croissants you can get in France, but they are comparable to the kind you typically find in North America. I'll go as far as to say that they are definitely better than the kind you buy in a tube and bake. These croissants are the best gluten free bread-type food I have found. Use your favorite gluten free flour mix (I used Silvana's), and eat them straight out of the oven for the best taste.

We used to have fresh cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning before going gluten free but I have yet to find a great recipe for those. I have found good recipes, but not a great one (if you have one please let me know!).

These are going to be our new Christmas morning tradition. I'm so glad I found them! Thank you Nicole from Gluten-Free on a Shoestring :)

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Indian Fritters

I love Indian food. I also love that most Indian food is naturally gluten free. I have found a great blog with lots of Indian recipes, called India On My Plate. I am loving it. I haven't actually found a recipe on the site yet that calls for any gluten ingredients. Naturally gluten free foods are the best!

Tonight I made Vegetable Fritters using sweet potatoes and zucchini. The original recipe has lots of ideas (eggplant, pumpkin, zucchini flowers, spinach...) and I bet broccoli and cauliflower would be delicious made into fritters as well. I just wanted to keep it simple my first time making fritters. These were a hit in my house and I'll definitely be making them again.

Maybe next time I'll try the Beet, Tomato and Cumin Salad...yum! I'm so glad to have found a "normal" blog without gluten!

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