Meet Lovely, my new kitchen helper

Look how shiny and sparkly my new kitchen toy is!! Blue sparkly with shining glass and shimmering metal whirligigs!

Isn't it Pretty!

Oooh, I have been lusting after one of these babies for years. Years I say! I would see them online and salivate just a little because gluten-free baking would be so much easier with a machine like this.


But The Expense!


We need ____ instead!


The Cost!


I said time and time again. Because they don’t come cheap, that’s for sure.

And then one of those nifty mall stores had a monster appliance sale. Prices slashed, extra discounts, open a store account and get more discounts! Plus we had a holiday gift card (thank you Donna & Joe) to that same mall store and that made the price every so right.

SuperHubby was the one who actually pointed out the sale, the extra discounts and good timing for making such a purpose. He's so good about these things.

The Blue one called to me, so streamlined and professional.

Since The Lovely joined the kitchen staff- what? Like You don’t name your appliances - The Lovely and I have made the following delectable treats.

A triple batch of Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies - which my husband uses to make ice cream sandwiches.




One monster Gluten Free Cheesecake -

the light in my kitchen sucks for pictures. It turns everything a sickly shade of yellow

A Gluten Free Custard Pear Tart - which was a bit eggy and needed more vanilla. Things I blame more on the cook than the helper.

The Lovely accomplished these tasks with grace and simplicity, mixing ingredients together in almost silent circles. Whipping eggs into a glistening froth with ease. I swear the cheesecake is creamier this time since that 375 watt motor creamed the hell out of the mixture for a good ten minutes without causing me to break a sweat.

Totally worth every penny we spent. I like to pet it when I walk through the kitchen. I might even have to re-evaluate my usual dislike for going to the mall.

Next up, Gluten Free bread. Which I have yet to make without it tasting like saw dust and feeling like a brick.

in search of the perfect po

One day last week I came home from work to find my husband seated at the kitchen table busily peeling one potato after another. I quickly noticed he was surrounded by no less than four bags of different potato types and yep, all your standard varieties were present - russet, red, white and yukon gold.

This was to be the next stage of his unfulfilled quest to recreate the perfect Grandma Potato.

There had already been one attempt this holiday season. There are usually four to five attempts throughout the year. It’s his quest. Like the Holy Grail or multiple orgasms for men.

It seems his Grandmother used to make these roasted potatoes that would induce a foodgasm of flavor when they all got together for holiday dinners. The menu consisted of roast beef, green beans, gravy and the ultimate golden tender roasted potato. These potatoes are legendary. At every family gathering that involves sitting down with food, the conversation inevitably turns to the collective memory of how wonderful these potatoes were. Here’s where I could insert some comment about the Irish and potatoes but that would be rude and I’m not that clever so I’ll just say that it's usually fun chatting about the nostalgic memories of foods from our childhood. I have some food memories of my Grandmother’s cooking as well, but they tend to travel along the lines of the two weeks I spent in the hospital with Salmonella food poisoning from something my Grandmother fed me and the fact that she used to store bacon grease in an old coffee can that she stashed in the refrigerator for months and months and used liberally in everything she cooked. It’s no wonder my cholesterol level is high.

My husband has been trying to make these Grandma Potatoes since we moved in together and cooked our first roast beef. As yet, we have been unable to achieve the tender golden succulence of the Grandma Potato. But he is determined and we try and try.

During Christmas Eve dinner with his parents, the feasts of yore that included these tender tubers was lamented and someone brought up the type of roasting pan she might have used and whether this piece of the puzzle was instrumental to the outcome. My Father-in-Law, uber-pack rat that he is, bless his frugal Irish soul, mentioned that he thought his mother’s old roaster was in the basement. Of course it was. Within a few minutes my husband came up the stairs victoriously cradling this big ass speckled enameled roasting pan. This thing is huge. I swear it would roast a whole pig. With room for a side of lamb. Wanna know where it is now?

As we were planning on making Roast Beef for Christmas day dinner with my sister and her family, and as we now had possession of the Grandma Roaster, which in all honesty is pretty cool as I remember one similar, albeit slightly smaller, that my Mom used to make meatloaf, it was the perfect opportunity to recreate the Grandma Potato. How could we fail? I mean the pan, right? The magic key. It had to be.

With loving devotion to the taste memory, my guy arranged a giant slab of cow and the potatoes carefully in the ginormous roaster and set it to cook. Several hours later the yummy artery clogging hunk of beef emerged with caramel colored roasted potatoes nestled alongside. They looked like Grandma Potatoes. They smelled like Grandma Potatoes. But did they taste like Grandma Potatoes?

Alas, they did not.

Fast forward one week. Another hunk o’Cow and 4 bags of potatoes.

My guy figured that if he cooked several different types all at once maybe he’d find the right combination of potato and beef and he would reproduce the Grandma Potato, finally after so many years trying.

Once again, close but not quite.

I don’t know the secret to the Grandma Potato. Truly, she seems to have taken the secret with her when she passed as my Mother-in-Law doesn’t know it, nor does her husband. So, Internets, if any of you know the secret to producing the perfect roasted potato that emerges from the pan golden and slightly crispy on the outside, yet soft and tender on the inside, with that perfect Grandma Potato flavor, please pass it on. Please? I’m afraid the next step will involve trying to track down the stove that was used to cook them.

convection withrdrawal

Thanksgiving is coming up and I find myself faced with the task of cooking a turkey in the oven. I haven’t cooked a turkey in a regular oven in almost 14 years. That’s a long time, folks. I’m not sure I remember how that’s all supposed to work. I mean, am I going to have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to shove this bird in the cooker and baste it throughout the day and hope like hell it’s cooked through by dinner time without burning the skin to cinders? If so, I hope someone’s going to supply me with the necessary inducements. Say a new jug of apple cider and a fresh bottle of bourbon? I’d like some cinnamon swizzle sticks with that, please.

Last year, courageously limping its way it through Thanksgiving dinner preparations, our favorite kitchen baby, the Farberware T4850 convection oven which we had lovingly used for years, finally called it quits with a gurgle and wheeze in the last hour of turkey cooking. I’m still in mourning. So is my husband. I find him trolling the internet looking for a suitable replacement and sighing pitifully whenever he realizes the crappy size constraints of the wussy microwave/convection combo’s listed everywhere. Unless we buy something in the commercial line, all the convection ovens he finds barely fit a 10 pound chicken let alone the 20 pound turkey we often cooked in the T4850. What is up with that?

This thing was no microwave/convection combo wanna be. It was a beast in size, straight up convection cooker. Took up considerable counter space but I never begrudged it its space, because oh it was so good to us. Damn you Farberware for discontinuing this line of convection oven. Damn you. YOu could have at least given us the chance to buy every last one of these you had available before you closed up the supply line.

We cooked just about everything in that T4850. Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Pork, Beef, roasted vegetables, baked potatoes, pizza, and the list goes on. Why did we use the convection oven so much? Because it cooked everything to perfection and cut the cooking time by at least a third.

A THIRD people! With full time jobs, crazy schedules, two kids and an aversion to hours at the stove, the time saved with this thing was priceless. The roast beefs were juicy and succulent, the chickens golden and tender, you see where I’m going with this right? The first time I roasted a chicken in the standard oven after the Farberware T4850 died, it was dry as dust.

The only thing I didn’t use it for was baking. And that was more me than it. I’m lucky a damn box mix cake emerges edible when I use the regular oven. Trying to compensate for convection time on a cake was more than my brain could manage. I tried once. The outside edges of the cake came out all firm and rubbery and the middle was the consistency of the La Brea tar pits. It smelled yummy though. No one in my house wanted to try it. Cowards.

Unless my guy finds a suitable convection unit before Thanksgiving, one that doesn’t cost the equivalent of the per capita GDP of Kiribati, we’re resigned to the standard oven. Anybody got any tried & true Thanksgiving turkey recipes that do not involve 10 hour cook times or the need to baste every fifteen minutes? Failing that, I'll take a used Farberware T4850 in realtively good working order.

allium sativum, how I miss thee

You know that smell? The scent of garlic slowly simmering, turning a succulent golden color, in olive oil over a medium flame?

And that taste? Yeah, you know the one I’m talking about… that one. Hhmmmm, oh yeah.

I miss it. OH, how I miss it.

At some point in the early 90’s my body betrayed me. Turned on me like a rabid dog. Garlic makes me sick. I have some sort of weird allergic reaction to it now and it sucks.

Since then just about every time I convince myself just a little won’t be so bad, it gets a little worse. I get palpitations, heartburn, gas - Oh MY GODS, THE GAS!- and then I feel like someone beat the hell out of me with a baseball bat.

That’s how I feel today. Because I didn’t think twice about eating an Amy’s vegetable lasagna meal for lunch yesterday.

Last night I had palpitations, a stomach ache, irritability – that could just have been my usual self though- and a general malaise of 'oh just let me lie here feeling like crap'.

This morning I feel like I went on a two day binge with a wine casket and let someone toss me over a cliff after they rolled me a few miles down a rocky incline and used me as a tackling dummy.

I brushed my teeth last night and this morning and the taste in my mouth makes me wish I could scrub my esophagus with a Lysol brillo pad.

This is probably why I developed such distaste for all things pasta tomato saucy over that past few years. I make a phenomenal gluten free lasagna for my husband, which the kids gobble down as well. The smell of it cooking makes me want to puke in my mouth now.

I’m Italian. This is so wrong. I’m supposed to be able to toss back raw garlic cloves as if they were super yummy candy. You know the last time I had homemade Garlic Bread? Shrimp Scampi? 1992.

Yeah, I know, it could be worse. But the way I feel today makes me want to hunt that bitch Amy down and slap her, just a little, for being so freakin’ heavy handed with the garlic.

i've heard red wine is good for the heart

Pork Roll & Cheese on a roll with pepper.

Just typing those words makes my mouth water.

There’s this great little mini market/deli in town that I pass on the way to work that makes the best Pork Roll & Cheese sandwich. The Pork Roll is sliced thick, four pieces, and the cheese is all melted between the slices, holding the whole thing together. It is a million calorie breakfast. I try to limit myself to one stop there a month.

My love for the Pork Roll is wide. A love that my ass can vouch for, as it too is wide. It is also a true indicator that I was raised in Jersey. I went to visit my cousin in Salem, Mass last December and I wanted to make Pork Roll sandwiches for breakfast, when I tried to describe it she looked at me as if I suggested we eat brains and then cautiously suggested bacon & eggs instead. 

My newly discovered elevated Cholesterol and LDL levels are not so fond of the Pork Roll & Cheese.

The news that I have high cholesterol and LDL are another reason to hate going to the damn doctor’s office and letting them leech blood.

I’ve been to so many damn doctors’ offices in the past 6 years for other people that I have complete medical overload and avoided them when it came to my own overall health. I hadn’t seen my Gynecologist in about three years, given that I’ll be 43 this year and postmenopausal, this is not the smartest decision ever.

Cold Speculum's. Do not judge me.

I’ve been forced to see my husband’s doctor a few times, for colds, acute poison ivy, sun poisoning blah blah blah, but he has ear lobes like Dumbo and was also my father’s doctor… and those earlobes….so yeah.

I finally had to see someone for a weird thing, which no one wants detailed here, trust me, and they took about a gallon of blood. 9 tubes to be exact, which has to be a gallon, right? It felt like it while that damn tube was cutting off the circulation in my arm, making my fingers numb. They do that so they don’t get punched in the face when the needle comes out. Your fingers are too numb to effectively make a fist, right?

Saturday one of the perky nurses called and told me that I my cholesterol is 246 and my LDL is 151 and the Doctor says I should modify my diet and get more exercise.

Shouldn't there be laws that prevent nurses from being perky if they are calling to tell you that you need to modify your diet and get more exercise? I’ll jog right down to the office there and throttle you, how’s that for exercise? And doesn’t she realize that it is a week after Easter and there is GOBS of chocolate candy in my house? Dark Chocolate candy?

Per the American Heart Association my 246 number falls into the “High blood cholesterol. A person with this level has more than twice the risk of coronary heart disease as someone whose cholesterol is below 200 mg/dL.” category.And the 151 LDL is “Borderline high”.

My husband jumped on this information and immediately began reminding me that there is a gym in my office and I should just go use it. And that my fondness for the charred fatty part of the grilled steak is now off limits. Hah, I may gnaw his fingers off if he tries to cut those yummy sections from my slab of cow.

The fish alternatives to a low cholesterol diet are really no problem for me as I love seafood.

Getting my ass in gear to exercise more will be the most challenging part of the whole lifestyle modification program I see in my immediate future. SuperHubby, whom I love from the deepest reaches of my heart, can be supportive in the most nagging way; the “That’s only going to add to your cholesterol level” or “I thought you wanted to lose weight” or “If you eat that, you’re going to need to walk twice as far tomorrow” kind of way. These gentle reminders usually make my eye balls bleed for a few moments while I envision waxing his testicles and then I remind myself that it’s his way of reminding me that if he has to raise the kids without me, the house will never be clean. So I bare my teeth at him and put the dark chocolate back in the refrigerator.

Because he’s right. Which irritates me more than the snark, actually.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be working on a diet of cholesterol lowering recipes and an exercise schedule.

I know that once I get into a regular exercise routine I will feel healthier, have more energy and feel better about myself. When I’ve done so in the past, the difference is amazing. It’s pretty bad how much we beat ourselves up when we do not stick to the commitments we promise ourselves. A mental plan of going to the gym every other day, or walking that half hour a night, and then not adhered to them leaves us berating ourselves for being lazy, procrastinating, and generally useless. And then the cycle of self-flagellation begins in earnest.

When we do complete these small good-for-us tasks, our whole selves benefit - mentally, emotionally and physically. And so do the people that surround us as we are more positive and self confident.

To start, I took my daughter and a friend on a 2 hour hike along the reservoir yesterday and ate a grilled chicken salad for dinner instead of a steak.

I’m not going to bore everyone with a weekly list of what I’ll be eating to deal with the cholesterol and weight issue, because that writing it would put me to sleep faster than you could click away from the page.

I might occasionally bitch and moan about how little dark chocolate and red cow meat I’m eating these days.

Wasn't there some study recently that says moderate amounts of red wine reduce the risk of heart disease? I'm going to do some serious research on that subject.

If someone has any decent low cholesterol recipes, feel free to send them my way. I’ve conquered the gluten-free cooking, I can tackle anything now.

Man, I’m going to miss the Pork Roll…

when good appliances go bad

I’m in mourning.

Truly. It seems a bit over-dramatic, but hey, I write a blog that tracks the minutia of my life, so why should this be any different.

When SuperHubby and I got married, my parents gave us a Farberware Convection/Broiler oven as a wedding present. I KNOW! Those wild people.

It is butt ugly, big, boxy & matte black, taking up precious counter space that I never had to spare. It makes cooking fast & simple, keeping my life just that one teensy bit less insane and stressed. 18 lb Turkey? Just over 4 hours, juicy and golden. 8 lb roast beef? 2 ½ hours, medium rare, succulent. And on and on it cooked.

This oven cut down on my cooking time by many, many hours over the past sixteen years. In my world, time is at a premium dammit! That extra hour I did not have to wait for some damn slab of meat to roast was spent on more productive endeavors, like another repeat episode of NCIS. (mmmm, Mark Harmon, mmmm.) I was smug in my cooking swiftness. No more long days preparing a large family dinner. This wonderful black box of circulating hot air cut my cooking time by half.

We use this bountiful heating box to make casseroles, reheat casseroles, bake stuff, roast various pieces of meats, cook up some gluten free pizzas and other assorted GF goodies for SuperHubby.

When Giggles got involved in Polymer Clay crafts, the box was asked to bake her crafty creations nice and solid. No problem, shove ‘em in, set that timer and Poof! hardened claywonderful creations!

My in-laws house is larger so most of the time we gather over there for holiday dinners. That monstrosity was hauled to their place regularly. It made the trek this Thanksgiving and cooked a golden juicy 18 lb turkey in no time. With no fuss, no mess and left the other less wonderful oven available for the rest of dinner preparations. It started making serious old man grumpy noises not long after that. We knew it wouldn’t be long before it gave up its last gasp, but hoped we’d get through once last holiday dinner.

We carted it over, carefully handling its passage, and offered it an 8 ½ lb roast to cook up for the Christmas 2009 dinner. Almost 3/4 of the way in the internal fan squealed and emitted a noise that only be compared to an elephant’s fart and then stopped working. The heating element then lost its warm cooking glow. A few solid thumps along the side had been effective in getting it back in working order the last few months, but to no avail this time.

Dead. Dead. Dead.

I shouldn't complain. This thing definitely gave us its all and then some. 16 years. Most marriages don't last that long these days, let alone appliances.
We moved the roast to the regular oven and finished cooking it. Turned out fine, but it took longer. The theme here is time and convenience, in case I haven't stressed that fact.

SuperHubby and I have spent considerable amounts of time trying to track a similar one down online, but Farberware no longer makes this type of convection/broiler. Fuckers. Why would they stop making this thing? Didn’t they know one day I would need another one? And now that day has come and I’m being forced to go back to the ordinary oven model and the long ass hours it takes to prepare food. I may go on a cooking strike.

See? I’m in mourning.

If anyone happens to have a Farberware T4850 Convection/Broiler oven stashed somewhere, in good working order, just waiting for a loving hand to use it, I’m your gal.

Holiday Hooplah!

Yeah, all this Holiday preparation, not too mention work, has interfered with my navel-gazing, blog reading, posting desires. Which seems completely unfair given my unrequited love for my fellow man...oh, sorry, that's another post all together involving one neighbor and large piles of snow.

It seems one can survive on just 4-5 hours of sleep a night for two weeks straight. Survive being the operative word here, thriving being another matter.

My brain is foggy and my eyeballs feel like someone rubbed grit in them. The snow-whomping we had this past weekend overtaxed my muscles and I feel like a creaky old lady. Mostly because I sit my ass behind a desk and stare at a computer screen all day, so when called upon to heft and heave two feet of snow from the driveway, I'm a whimpering pansy ass for the rest of the week. Oh, how I love thee, my Wong To Yick.

Ace unfortunately strained his lower back while shoveling also, so he's been grounded by the chiropractor for a time until that heals so he can get back to swim practice. My mean grumpy mother side still thinks he did it on purpose to avoid cleaning his room. But he's an achy boy right now, so we'll sit on him for a few days to keep him resting. Not an easy thing to do with a 14-year-old who does not know the meaning of "take care of yourself!"

Despite my poorly planned holiday preparations, I've managed to finish the necklaces I made for my mother-in-law and sister, which hopefully I remember to take pictures for posting, because if I do say so myself, they turned out fucking awesome. One super dense and creamy Gluten Free Cheesecake was created with Love for SuperHubby last night, finishing up somewhere around 9:00 pm. I take pride in the fact that I did not forget to remove it from the oven and it actually made it nto the refrigerator last night. Sometimes things do not make the transition, memory loss and all that.

SuperHubby being the present planner and shopper was able to acquire most of the presents well in advance of the mad shopping rush, because he is frugal and loves to find the best bargain, which can be done all year long when one is committed. I love his dogged determination in that area. Gift giving has gotten a whole loteeasier in the past few years with his shop early and regularly strategy!

Giggles went on her own creative streak over the past two weeks and made all of her Christmas gifts by hand. She loves working with polymer clay and creating these great ornaments and sculptures. It's great to see her so intent on creating the perfect gift for the people on her list. She made Ace an ornament shaped like a monkey. It's so sweet and quirky and I think he will treasure it for a very long time. She's been telling me how much I'm going to love what she made me,so I can't wait for the grand unveiling tomorrow morning.

We're a tired bunch in Catootesville, given the crazy family schedule, so the next few days of family gatherings will be fun and joyful, a time for love, laughter and way too much food. And maybe some good bourbon.

While we stuff ourselves, unwrap gifts, laugh and love in our home, I wish the same Holiday Warmth & Cheer and Prosperous New Year blessing to all!

Catch you all in 2010!

Gluten Free Pepperoni Calzones

Because we are always looking for ways to increase the number of Gluten Free items on the menu in the Catootes household, improvisation is the key to success. Sometimes there are no so great results (the bread, which is its own post someday) and sometimes the results are worth repeating time and again.
This is one of those moments.

While on vacation, when SuperHubby found calzones on the menu at the pizza parlor he got that kid at the candy store look on his face and said "I miss calzones" with such a wistful tone of voice. I am a such a sucker for that voice, as he has had to cut out so many favorite foods since the Gluten Free mandate went down. It was like the proverbial light bulb over the head moment and we both looked at each other and realized we should be able to put that together.

Sometimes this type of thing becomes a quest for me. Can I make this? Can I translate this recipe into a Gluten Free one? Of course I can, especially if it means I spend part of a weekend day not doing laundry. So I read a bunch of calzone recipes online, both Gluten Free and not. I compared and picked pieces and techniques from several and came out with what I thought was the best way for me.

It all starts with the crust, of course. We prefer the Namaste Pizza Crust Mix when the urge for pie hits as it's easy (MAJOR points for that) to put together and is a tasty pizza crust enjoyed by all. This does get rolled out much thinner than it is for the pizza recipe and in as close to a rectangle shape as possible and then segment into 5-6 equal segments. I'm able to get 5-6 Calzones per pizza recipe.

Please note that I am an ad-hoc cook, I use recipes as loose guidelines in the best circumstances and modify as I go along. Proceed at your own risk.

Preheat oven to 400 degree (F)

Mix together (all ingredients should be changed to suit personal preferences):
2 cups Ricotta
2 cups Mozzarella
1/4 - 1/2 cup Romano
Pepperoni, chopped to taste. I use about 1/2 cup
diced Jalapeno peppers to taste, jarred or fresh
1-2 cloves chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Have ready open jar/can of prepared pizza sauce.

Spread cheese mixture onto one of the crust segments and add 3 tablespoons (more or less as you like) of Prepared Pizza Sauce over cheese mixture. Fold the rest of the dough segment over the mixture and crimp edges together. brush olive oil over crimped crust edges, vent calzone top 2-3 times with knife tip. Continue this step with all calzone dough segments.

Place on olive oil greased pizza pan, pizza stone or baking sheet on lowest oven rack.
Cook 25 minutes. give or take 5 minutes based on how firm you like your calzone crust.

Enjoy.
Freeze in aluminum foil for up to two weeks.

Love Some Po's...

While cruising around the blogosphere last week I came upon a potatoe recipe called Hot Crash Potatoes on The Pioneer Woman. Since I am often looking for new and exciting foods to make for mealtime, I thought I would try these out. Potatoes, or Po's as they are called in our house, are a family favorite no matter which way they are made, unless you are Giggles, who doesn't like to explore food flavors much beyond bland. As a matter of fact, she'd prefer to eat mac & cheese or chicken nuggets everyday. I try to prevent this from occuring but sometime's you have to pick your battles.

This recipe was laid out very nicely, pictures included -which may have been the very reason I decided to try it. Pioneer Woman certainly made these po's look mouth watering sexy.

During the weekly grocery haul, and damn food prices have increased way too much, I made certain to gather the necessary ingredients which consist of basics like po's, olive oil, salt and seasoning.

And then I made a big ass batch of these Hot Crash Potatoes. Ace and SuperHubby gobbled them up as if they hadn't eaten all day. I think Ace inhaled 4 of them. Giggles even ate a whole one and said it was good. I enjoyed them so very much I ate way more than I should have, and no I won't say how many. THEY ARE YUMMY...

Leftovers? Oh yes, if there are any leftovers, and it was a close call considering how many po's I cooked, they are scrumptious breakfast po's with eggs and meat. Ace has already asked when I plan on making them again. I bet I can teach him to cook these now that he's old enough not to burn himself at the stove.

Here, see for yourself.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/

Go make them. You will eat them all. And while you are checking out a bunch of recipes on The Pioneer Woman, spend some quality time reading and viewing. She has some seriously amazing pictures on her site and her posts are worth the computer time.
I'm a new fan.

Gluten Free Cookbooks

When we moved to the GF diet for SuperHubby, I picked up several GF cookbooks. Some, as always, were better than others. There are now several I refer to religiously whenever I decide to cook something new. Luckily for me, and my GF SuperHubby, there is a plethora of Gluten Free online resources. I’ve listed a couple that I visit routinely for new recipes and ideas. Those sites are linked at the bottom of the blog. I spend quite a bit of time with the Gluten Free Girl.

One of my work contacts was generous enough (Thank You, Andy!!) to send me a whole batch of Gluten Free Cookbooks. Specifically the Gluten Free Gourmet books by Bette Hagman. This series is particularly helpful. And now I have more recipes to play with!

I make so many things GF now, and have incorporated it into everyone’s diet. The kids don’t even notice any longer. Their pancakes and waffles, mostly homemade, are GF. Most dishes that require any breading or flours are all GF now. It was too difficult in the beginning, making separate batches for dinners. Besides, I think the kids are healthier without so much processed wheat flours.

We haven’t had them tested for Celiac yet, but at the last pediatrician visit, it was recommended to have the blood tests done. So far they show no signs of Celiac Disease, but it will be better to know if they carry the genes.

These are the Gluten-Free cookbooks and reference books that are staples in our house. They are now looking well used and splattered. Just the way a good cookbook should after a few years of use.

Celiac Disease: A Guide to Living with Gluten Intolerance
The Best-Ever Wheat- and Gluten-Free Baking Book
Gluten-Free Baking Classics
Gluten-free, Sugar-free Cooking
The Gluten-Free Bible: The Thoroughly Indispensable Guide to Negotiating Life Without Wheat
The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods