Peanut Butter Cookies

I know what you might be thinking: "She takes this long for a post and all we get is Peanut Butter Cookies?!"

For one, I know I have been gone awhile but please bear with the sporadic posts, life should calm down soon. We close on our new house next week so we should be moved and less hectic I hope!

Secondly, these are not just any old Peanut Butter Cookies. These are fabulously easy, cheap and FLOURLESS cookies that have perfect texture and are seriously so, so yummy. I will never make Peanut Butter Cookies with flour again. Never. Really.

After baking, mmmmm......

In other news, since we have been packing and cleaning to move, school has been a little, well ~ disorganized, but the one thing that has been consistent, weekly, is our new Geography supplement.

The History Channel has been running a new show called How the States Got Their Shapes. It is all about exactly that: what formed the United States of America? I call it geography because it is all about the geography of the states but really, it is also US history. I am working on a study guide for it in fact. I highly recommend the show!

Anyway, here's the simple cookie recipe!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1/2 cup creamy GF peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chunky GF peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients very well. Drop by rounded tablespoon (or small Pampered Chef scoop) on a nonstick pan. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. LET THEM SIT for a couple minutes before removing them to a flat surface to cool. They will be very soft while warm but cool to a perfect texture. Resting, right out of the oven.....

Careful, they are addictive. I had 24 in this batch. Within a day they were gone.

Post-Easter Split Pea Soup

Easter has come and gone. I hope everyone had a fabulous day however you celebrate, if you do at all. We had a huge Easter dinner, just the four of us and relaxed aaaall day. Since this NEVER happens I relished every moment. As part of dinner I made Ham with Rum Glaze.

I just realized that I have never posted that recipe. How sad! It's soooo good! Okay, I will post it in the next few days I promise.

Anyway, there are only four of us and that was a HUGE bone-in ham. "What am I going to do with all this HAM?" I asked myself. The cats were listening too and had their own ideas but I chose to feed the humans with it. Enter: Split Pea Soup.

This is NOT a unique recipe. This is a family one handed down through generations that I made a couple tweaks to but not many. This is probably identical to others but I wanted to share anyway.

Mama's Split Pea Soup

• 1 bag dried split peas
• 1 ham bone (preferably with a little ham still attached)
• 3-4 Tblsp olive oil
• 2 stalks celery, minced
• 2 carrots, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, minced
• 10 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• Chopped ham (optional)

Saute the celery, onion, garlic and carrot in the olive oil for around 5 minutes over medium high heat until the onion and celery are softened. Add the peas, ham bone, broth, water and pepper. Cover and cook on medium for around an hour and a half, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Remove the ham bone and add the chopped ham (if using). Turn off the heat and serve. I usually serve it with a Spring Mix and Spinach Salad.

Salad Dressings Galore!

Pom is my future Food Network Star. At not-quite-ten years old, she made us dinner last night with NO help from ANYONE. This wasn't a hot dogs and canned veggies kind of meal either. She made from-scratch gluten free Gnocchi with a Buttery Parmesan sauce. She made Spring Salad with Oranges and Olives served with a fresh, from-scratch Vinaigrette Dressing. The best part? IT WAS REALLY GOOD!!! I am the proudest mama EVER!!!

I was also really proud of her when she said, "Mom, thanks for teaching fractions. That would have been hard without that!" Sniff, sniff. I teared up a bit there.

I started thinking while devouring the salad. (Did I mention how really yummy the salad and dressing were?) Salad dressing is one of those really tough things for gluten free kids. Ranch, in my experience, is an all around FAVORITE, but only a handful of brands sell it gluten free. (My favorite there is Litehouse). Homemade dressings though. Those are easy. And cheap. And did I mention easy? Really. So here are a few of our favorites. And yes, Pom's first homemade dressing is included. :)

Pom's Fruity Vinaigrette

(these measurements are approximate...apparently she didn't measure and it was TOTALLY from her head...SO proud!!)

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• Juice of 1 mandarin orange (juiced by hand)
• Juice of 8 strawberries (again by hand)

Mix it all together. SERIOUSLY good.


Mom's Raspberry Balsamic

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup raspberry balsamic vinegar

Mix well. This is Diva's favorite.

GF Low(er) Fat Blue Cheese Dressing

• 4 oz GF blue cheese, crumbled (mine comes pre-crumbled, I just use the whole package)
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise (NOT low fat)
• 1/2 cup Sour cream (NOT low fat)
• 1 cup fat free 1/2 and 1/2
• 2 Tblsp Tarragon Vinegar **
• 1/2 tsp (or so) garlic powder OR 1-2 garlic cloves, minced (I use a garlic press)
• 2 -3 Tblsp chopped fresh dill
• dash of freshly ground sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a mixer*** or processor. Note that it is lowER fat, not fat free or even necessarily very low fat.
**Make your own Tarragon (or any herb) Vinegar by boiling white vinegar and steeping tarragon in it for a couple of weeks in a cool, dry place. Strain into decorative jars and use or give as gifts.

Gorgonzola Dressing

• 2/3 cup fat free 1/2 and 1/2
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3-4 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced (I use a press)
• Freshly ground pepper to taste.

Mix all ingredients in a mixer***.
This was inspired by a Giada recipe and happens to be ultra yummy on a BLT salad.

Ranch Dressing

• 1/2 cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 cup fat free 1/2 and 1/2
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 3 Tblsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• dash paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 Tblsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 tsp chopped fresh chives
• 1 tsp chopped fresh dill

Mix all together in a mixer***. This is DH's favorite.

***I swear by Pampered Chef. In many areas but particularly here. Every dressing ever made in my kitchen is made by one of these. Measure, mix, pour and there are even recipes ON the side of it!! I love, love, love this thing so much in fact that I own three. Two to ensure I can always have a variety of dressings on hand and one for my camping gear.

Now you can have salad at any time!

Games, unplanned school and a Gluten Free Mediterranean Lasagna

With it being Spring Break, there hasn't been a lot going on at our house. We have been sorting things for an upcoming yard sale, reorganizing furniture (this is common) and generally relaxing. Turns out there has been a lot of school going on under my nose though!

Part of that was because I SCORED at a yard sale last week. I found rare and old books (collectors here, I have a LOT of bookcases). I found Amelia Bedelia (five different books!). But what intrigued me most were the games. A LOT of them. For a dollar a piece.

Awesome Learning Games!!

My camera still has no charger so the pictures are NOT fabulous but these games are awesome. The girls LOVE them and they learn a TON.

This is why I love homeschooling. Civics class was "taught", word problems were finally mastered, a unit on fractions was begun, spelling lists were made and studied, vocabulary was learned (the two new favorites are loquacious and discretion) and science has been a proficient part of every day. And this was our week OFF. No plan, no "lessons". I love my life.
I played around with food this week too. A couple of near misses and a disaster were made up for by this. A Mediterranean Lasagna that is easy, delicious and oh so flavorful. The little scholars were THRILLED with it and it took virtually NO prep work. I was really just throwing stuff in that sounded good to me and it worked. REALLY WELL!

Mediterranean Lasagna

• 6 GF Lasagna Noodles
• 1 large container Ricotta Cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• Salt and Pepper (freshly ground preferably) to taste
• 1/2 handful fresh Oregano leaves, torn to little pieces
• 1/4 cup marinated artichoke hearts, cut into bite size pieces
• 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, quartered
• 12 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 3-4 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 1 jar gluten free marinara sauce (I prefer Organic and such)
• 1 cup fat free 1/2 and 1/2
• 1 cup shaved parmesan
• 2 cups mozzarella, divided

*all cheese measurements are "about". I just add. I like cheese. Too much.

To make lasagna, preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg, salt and pepper, oregano, grated parmesan and 1 cup of mozzarella. In a deep 9 x 13 casserole dish, layer in this order:

1. 1/3 cup spaghetti sauce
2. 3 noodles
3. 1/2 cheese mixture
4. artichokes
5. mushrooms
6. spinach
7. olives
8. rest of cheese mixture
9. 1/3 sauce
10. 3 noodles
11. remaining sauce
12. half and half
13. shaved parmesan
14. remaining mozzarella

cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for about one hour.

No precooking, no chopping (if you buy pre-chopped), easy quick prep. YUM!!!

We're Back!!!

After an ultra long, and rather accidental, hiatus we're back on track for regular posts. It's been a crazy few months around here with surgeries, broken bones, cookie season and more.

This time of year is a little tricky for us. It's been about a year and a half since Pom's diagnosis so she still remembers Thin Mint milkshakes. She can't have them though, which can be a little rough with them taking over our house and schedule. She is a great little salesperson, as is Diva, and really enjoys selling cookies. Booth sales are one of her favorite parts of being in Girl Scouts!
She misses the eating part of it though, so I am on a mission to create an accurate GF Thin Mint. I have seen GF "Samoa" recipes but not Thin Mint types. I am also attempting to petition for a GF cookie. I can't and don't believe that it wouldn't be a godsend for many people.

With the busiest part of the year upon us I haven't been experimenting quite as much with meals. I am sticking with tried and trues. I haven't forgotten my Stumble challenge though! I found a recipe one day for "Trailer Trash Pot Roast". Definitely not gluten free. And I don't like chili sauce very well. So of course I changed it a bit. MMMMMMMMM.....and wow was this an easy roast!

Busy Night Roast

• 3-4 lb (or more) butt roast
• 1/2 bottle GF steak sauce (whatever your favorite is)
• 1/2 cup dried onions
• 1 can cola (I prefer Pepsi)
• some baby carrots, potatoes and onions chopped into one inch (or so) cubes, OPTIONAL

Put roast and veggies in roasting pan.
Mix steak sauce, onions and cola in a mixing bowl.
Pour sauce over roast.
Put in a 400 degree oven for one hour, reduce heat to 325. Cook an hour or so longer.
ENJOY

Four Cheese Hashbrown Casserole

I tend to get on a breakfast food kick on weekends, much to the delight of my family. This weekend was a huge score on that front! Years ago, when we were with some friends at the coast, I had a yummy hashbrown casserole that someone else had made. When I asked for the recipe he said he didn't use one and just listed off some ingredients. I have been trying to re-create that deliciousness ever since, to no avail.

I finally did it. After about four years of tweaking here and changing there I have perfected the casserole. It was so well received in fact that I made it two days in a row! I warn you, it is ridiculously good and hard to stop eating it.

Four Cheese Hashbrown Casserole

• 4 cups frozen shredded hashbrowns
• 1/4 large onion, minced
• 3/4 cup half and half ( I use fat free )
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup feta cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded or grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded white or mild cheddar
• 1 Tblsp dried Oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together in a square casserole and bake uncovered 35 - 40 minutes.

I cannot express how exciting it is to finally get it right after so long. I have a feeling we'll be making it a lot for awhile!!

White Chocolate and Pumpkin Pancakes

If necessity is the mother of invention, the best recipes follow a similar rule. My best recipes come from experimenting with what is in the house and severely altering an idea I found elsewhere. This recipe, for example, came from a recipe for (not gf) pumpkin spice pancakes that my friends mom used to make with Bisquick. I know they now make a GF Bisquick but to be honest, I have never liked pancakes made with it. It's a biscuit thing to me, savory not sweet. We aren't big pancake fans in this house, but I was in the mood for experimentation. I wish I had my camera so I could show you these now.....

Gluten Free flours, as I've said, work differently so they frequently need a little more liquid than a non gf recipe. When my batter was a little too thick I added what I had. White Chocolate creamer. It was one of the best things I have ever done. I think I will make pancakes more often now!

White Chocolate and Pumpkin Pancakes

Dry ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups All purpose GF flour
• 3 Tblsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger

Wet ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup White chocolate creamer
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
• butter for greasing the griddle

Mix dry ingredients well in a large bowl
Whisk together wet ingredients in a small bowl ( I use a 4 cup measuring bowl for liquids..I can measure and stir in one bowl. Less dishes is always a plus. I hate dishes ).
Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened. DO NOT overmix. Lumps are a good thing.
Cook on an electric griddle, greased and set to 325ish, flipping when bubbles appear on top.

Serve and enjoy! delectable. mmmmm.....

Snack Time made Easy

When Pom went on the gluten free diet originally I was stumped. About everything really but mostly about snacks. We already made mostly gluten free dinners without thinking about it but snacks...that was tough.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to be the kind of parent that makes intricate snacks every day at the same time, but I'm not. Call it busy, call it lazy, call it whatever but my favorite snack foods are the prepackaged crap in little bags that can be thrown in a "snack drawer" so that the kids can get it themselves when that magic 3 o'clock hits. Try finding those kind that are gluten free and decently priced though. I also prefer that they aren't TOO full of crap. This was a problem....but with a little extra time, I found a solution. The snack drawer is back!

The diagnosis of Celiac's, as most people will tell you, was kind of a blessing in disguise. I realized just how much processed crap we ate! Not that we don't still eat some, but it's a much healthier diet now. We have two snack drawers now because one is in the fridge. Here's how we do it.

Cold Snacks

First of all, we do have some easiness here. The cold snack drawer does house things like string cheese and organic yogurt tubes (occasionally it even houses Go-gurt when we can't get out of town). The options they choose regularly though are individual bags of grapes, bags of sliced apples, bags of carrots or already peeled oranges. I bought an apple slicer from Pampered Chef years ago so it gets a lot of use these days. Turns out they actually do sell individual bags of sliced apples...but oh my they are expensive! It is SO much cheaper to buy whole apples. I slice them, put them in little ziptop snack baggies with a few drops of lemon juice to prevent browning and throw the baggies in a drawer. One of the girls favorite things in when I slice some cheddar cheese into little squares, 4 per baggie. They combine that with crackers from the other snack drawer for crackers and cheese. :)

Regular Snacks

Again with a little bit of easiness, we occasionally buy Welch's fruit snacks. Mostly we buy things like gluten free pretzels, gluten free crackers and gluten free graham crackers. I then separate them into individual baggies based on the serving size and put them all in the drawer.

It takes a little extra time to do this but I do it as I am unloading groceries. Groceries used to take me about 20 minutes to unload. Now it takes about 30. Ten minutes once a week is soooo worth allowing the kids to make their own choices at snack time. They are able to visually see a serving size out of that big bag, which I think will help them make better nutritional choices for their entire life. One can hope.

Super easy, comforting Root Beef Stew...it cooks itself!

With the munchkins being incredibly busy this year, I am finding it difficult to get much done. I am trying to get things posted I promise.

Tuesdays are our hardest day. With four classes (one that I lead), picking up and dropping off kids and much more, we try to do either leftovers or slow cookers for dinner. Tonight was beef stew with a kick. The kids love it, its comforting and warm, incredibly easy and cooks itself!

Over the next few months there will be a lot of experimenting with GF baking. It's taken me nearly two years of trial and error but I have recently made a number of things that are surprisingly decadent and perfectly textured! Look for some recipes coming soon!

Root Beef Stew

• 1 pound lean stewing beef
• 4 large baking potatoes OR 8 baby red potatoes
• 2 large carrots, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 2 stalks celery, cut into 1/1 inch chunks
• 1 large onion, cut into bite size pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 radishes, quartered
• 4 - 6 cups vegetable broth or beef broth (see note)
• 4 tablespoons herbes de provence
• 2 cups frozen peas
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large slow cooker pot, combine all ingredients except peas. stir well and set to high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours.

Add peas in the last half hour.

Serve and enjoy!

See? Easy! I usually serve it with just a salad. It is very filling.

NOTE: Pacific Foods broths are gluten free. They are the only brand I will use.

Side note about pictures. With all of the recent vacation chaos and a moving plan, I seem to have misplaced my camera's battery charger. Some recipes will have pics taken with my cell phone, many will not. I am looking for it I promise!

Easy Cheesy Lasagna!

Labor Day was a beautifully cool, sunny day. I haven't used the oven very much lately, since it was so incredibly hot but Monday seemed like a great day! The children were happy about it because I made their favorite: LASAGNA.




The best part of my lasagna is the simplicity. There is no pre-baking of the noodles since they cook in the sauce in the oven. It is ultra yummy, ultra cheesy and of course gluten free!

Easy Cheesy Lasagna

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 6 GF Lasagna Noodles (I recommend Tinkyada)
about 2 cups (or more) Shredded Mozzarella.

For the Sauce:
Olive oil (a couple Tbsp)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 lg onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
about a cup or so mushrooms, sliced
1 large can organic tomato sauce
1 large can organic crushed tomatoes
3-4 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives (optional but SO yummy)

For the Filling:
1 lg container ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 egg
1 cup Spinach leaves
salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to taste

Okay, saute the onions, garlic, mushrooms and green pepper in olive oil about five minutes. Add seasoning then tomatoes and sauce. Add olives if using. Let simmer while preparing the filling.

Prepare the filling. :) Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

OKAY the fun part. Ladle sauce into a 9 by 13 casserole dish so that the bottom is covered. Lay 3 lasagna noodles over the sauce. Ladle in more sauce, to cover the noodles. Spread the filling over noodles and sauce. Ladle in more sauce. Lay 3 more noodles on top. Pour in the rest of the sauce. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle top with cheese, bake for 15 minutes longer.

ENJOY! A full pan of it doesn't last long at my house. The kids love it. I generally serve it with salad or a yummy saute of veggies with garlic.

Weekday Lunch and a Slight Rant

Working from home is fantastic. I run two businesses from home, daycare and freelance writing. The beauty of the writing is that I can do it from anywhere so when I took "vacation" I didn't have to lose the income.

There are definite downsides though. As any one who works from home can attest, the distractions alone are enough to drive you crazy. The one that irritates me the most though is having to explain to EVERYONE that yes, I do work and yes, I do have a 'real' job. No, I cannot just randomly go do whatever the hell you want me to. I am busy, I do have deadlines and no, I cannot just drop everything simply because I am home.

What I LOVE about being home is being able to homeschool my girls. They are doing AWESOME and are very happy, social, well rounded kids. The fact that they love to eat helps me with my cooking too. Here is their favorite lunch. Simple, easy and gluten free.

Rice Cake Tuna Melts

(makes about 4)
4 rice cakes
1 can tuna in water
2 TBSP mayo (or mayo substitute)
1 dill pickle (we use home canned ones), chopped finely
1 stalk celery, chopped finely
4 slices cheddar cheese (Tillamook is best)

Heat oven to 300 degrees

Mix together tuna, mayo, pickle and celery. Spread on rice cakes. Cover each with one slice cheese. Place on baking sheet, put in oven for about 5 minutes until cheese is melty.

Serve and devour.

I usually serve them with carrot sticks and apples on paper towels to make a (nearly) dish free lunch :) I really hate dishes.

HAPPY LABOR DAY!