Gluten Free Eating Just Got Cheaper!!

Gluten Free Eating Just Got Cheaper!! Aldi now has a full line of gluten free products! Aldi a German company has always clearly labeled their foods as gluten free (if they are) and that has made for easy shopping for me. I just glanced at the label and if it said gluten free I bought it. No more searching the ingredient list. The new US labeling laws have been passed but not yet implemented by food manufactures across the board.

Aldi now has gluten free Mac N Cheese, granola bars, cake mixes, granola cereal, cookie mix, pizza crust mix, cornbread mix, pizzas, brownie mix, baking mix, stuffed sandwiches (like Hot Pockets), lasagna, stuffed shells, pancakes, soft baked cookies, chicken nuggets and pretzels.

Now mind you these are not available in all areas and I also can't find the ingredients for these products to check for other allergens. Sorry about that, I will have to go to Aldi and I don't have one near me, but I will go check it out in the near future because chicken nuggets sure sound good!

If you have seen or tried these products let us know what you think.

Thanks,
Moe

3 Reviews in 1 Just For You!

 

What more could I ask for than to be able to review an awesome product from Simplified Pantry!The  Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Simplified Pantry is available for purchase.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this PDF file, there are so many tips and tricks for the gluten free and dairy free lifestyle. For those of us that live this each and every day, it's been a blessing to find some new recipes to add to the weekly menu plan.

Lots of slow cooker or crockpot meals for the coming hot summer days to keep your home cool, yet get good quality foods on the table for your family. No fancy ingredients, but lots of pantry items in these recipes. I love how there is a Master Pantry List.

 

An entire page of marinades!! Perfect for summer grilling.

 

How many of you say that you want to eat more healthy fish, but are not sure how to cook it? YUMMO!! 3 fish recipes.

 

Pasta on a gluten free diet? YOU BET! Some delicious looking recipes in the Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Simplified Pantry recipes.

 

Looking to add more fiber? They have bean recipes just for you!

 

Mexican they got that too!

 

Nice hearty Soups & Stews, 4 pages worth.

 

Full meal salads, side salads and veggie dishes too.

 

Desserts like Peanut Butter Cookies, Berry Sorbet, Chocolate Mousse and many more sweet treats.

 

And last but not least a menu planner! LOVE that! Though I wish that I could type in the PDF menu planner, that would be a wonderful added touch. I could type my menus and print it out.

 

My only complaint about the Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Simplified Pantry is that it suggests using frozen meat in your crockpot/slow cooker, I DO NOT AGREE WITH DOING THIS. NOR DO I ADVOCATE DOING THIS.  I will admit to having done this in the past before I took a food sanitation class and learned that the meat ends up being 3 different temperatures while cooking in the crockpot/slow cooker. Some of the meat it hot, some cool and some warm, which ends up being a hot bed for bacteria growth. So each time you are doing this you risk harming your family with food poisoning (that flu bug that everyone seems to get can actually be caused by food poisoning).

 

This is for any level of cook, I did not come across anything at all that was too hard or had any weirdo ingredients. I printed out a copy of the PDF and took it to one of my gluten free cooking classes that I teach at our local college for the students to look it over. Many of the people commented that the recipes looked easy and doable.

The Simplified Pantry Blog has a few other products including a regular meal planner, Simplified Pantry. That has similar recipes to the gluten free/dairy free version. I did see some that were clearly gluten containing meals, but they could all be pretty easily converted to gluten free/dairy free recipes.

 

You will also find available for purchase the Paperless Home Organization ! This is awesome and works as a binder system in a digital age. Organize everything on your Apple and Android devices!!! Both PDF and Kindle versions are available. This homeschool, unorganized, computer no-nothing Momma...lol. Loves this. Step by step instructions on how to set it all up. This has come at the perfect time for me. I have some summer free time to play with this and have it all up and running by the start of school. This is SOOO COOL!!! I totally recommend this. 

Hope you enjoy these products, I sure have. I really enjoy being a part of the TOS Review Crew, but this review really WOW'd me, it was something fun for me as the Momma and I learned some new menu tricks that I have enjoyed implementing in our home. Thank you TOS!!

  

 

A Closer Look At Gluten Free Food Labeling

Eating pre-packaged gluten free foods and all the sudden you feel ill? HHMMM.........might be because gluten free does not always mean free of gluten! Most foods labeled gluten free have 20 PPM (parts per million) of gluten in them and that is legal in the USA. Canada and Europe test down to 5 PPM (parts per million). So those with Celiac Disease or those that are highly sensitive can react to many gluten free foods even though the package says gluten free. To read more I have included an article at the end of this blog post from Living Without magazine.

Check out this article from my favorite gluten free magazine Living Without.
http://www.livingwithout.com/issues/4_7/closer_look_at_labeling-1945-1.html

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

20% off Gluten Free Goodies!!

For a limited time, ALL Gluten Free products in the Hodgson Mill Store are 20% off. That's right: 20% off! At checkout, enter code GLUTENFREEDOM to get your discount. This is a great opportunity to try and enjoy the brand new Hodgson Mill Gluten Free CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES not sure if it's dairy free or not with the chocolate chips.

Head on over to the Hodgson Mill Blog to find this recipe to make Gluten Free Chocolate Tarts with Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse for your gluten free sweetheart on Valentines Day!

 

What do I plan to buy with my 20% off?

Milled Flax Seed I use it in my peanut butter cookies, desserts and homemade breads, adds a nutty flavor and also fiber.

Pasta

Gluten Free Seasoned Coating Mix,

 

I use these weekly in my home. The kids that visit

our home never know that the pasta or the chicken nuggets are gluten free, they just gobble it all right up!

 

Some of the products do contain corn so please read labels before buying.

 

Enjoy!

Moe

p.s. I was just relaxing in the recliner getting my evening IV antibiotics and though of all my readers :O)

Gluten Free Class Tonight & A Slight Glitch!

Well I had the privilege of spending an evening with an awesome group of people!! It was sad to see how many had suffered and doctors did not seem to be helpful for them. Hoping that each came away with some encouragement that they are not alone in this. Though at times it does feel very lonesome.

 

 As for the glitch, I had planned to make Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crusts and when I opened my box from Amazon.com.....lol, I saw flour inside the outer box, I lifted out the 4 pack of pizza crust mix and the bottom of the case was broke open. All the bags had some how popped open and were spilled all over. I'm thinking that in shipping a heavy box got put on top of it and the weight popped the bags open. It was a mess just as we were leaving to head to the class. Called Amazon.com and they shipping 2 new cases overnight to me.......yeah for a company with EXCELLENT customer service!!!!

 

Moe





Gluten Free Cooking TV Show TODAY

I am pretty excited about being on the CI Living TV show this afternoon doing a gluten free segment. I will post a link to the program tonight. I have a lot of fun things planned and have a Super Bowl Sunday Gluten Free Party theme going for the show. I am also going to be promoting some gluten free cooking classes that I will be teaching in the coming days. I am very thankful for the goodies that Hodgson Mill, Good Naber Specialty Foods, BetterBatter.org and Living Without magazine provided. They all sent samples, coupons and a copy of the Living Without magazine. BetterBatter.org and Hodgson Mill sent me full size products to play with in class too!! YIPPEE!! Thank you everyone for helping teach others about Gluten Free and how you can live well, while living without gluten.

 

 





Have a wonderful day!
Moe

LEGOS, LEGOS, LEGOS!!!

Can any child have TOO many Legos? Well with having an only child, I'm thinking that we have too many here! lol.
This week was the 'cleaning of the Legos' here. They were all dusty and really needed cleaned up. Our son likes to keep his Lego creations out on display, well guess what? Dust loves Legos and we have dust mite allergies around here.

So into the bathtub went the Legos.

 Now they are all drying, this is just one small batch......LOL.

Through all this we learned about buoyancy and how things float or sink. We learned just how much dust can accumulate and how dust ends up acting like mud in water.

There are some great learning opportunities for our only children that we homeschool, in regards to Lego products. There are Lego 4-H groups, Lego Robotics 4-H groups, Lego Library Clubs,  and so much more!  There are also some cute builds to make over at Lego.com. Join the mailing list and they will send you a monthly item to build: make sure you print out the instructions when you get them, since the build will become locked after that month and you can't print it out after that. And of course there is the field trip of a life time LegoLand!!!  We have been to one of the LegoLands and had a lot of fun.

How have you incorporated Legos in to your homeschooling? One thing that we have done is purchase one of the Lego Sticker books such as Lego Minifigure Ultimate Sticker Collection.

We then take a notebook and our son puts stickers on the notebook paper and then writes a Lego story about the Mini-figures. It's been a lot of fun for us. And it helps with spelling, handwriting, creative writing and grammar  :O)       All in an easy fun format, it does not even feel like school. Yes, hahaha, it's that sneaky homeschool learning that our kids get in and don't even know it. Sometimes I will just have him grab the notebook and put a few stickers in and take off in the car on a busy day. I don't grade for penmanship on the days he is writing in the car though, as it's hard to write neatly in a moving car. Sometimes the stories conclude that day and other times the stories continue on. Why not write out a Lego lesson plan today! Surprise your child with some Lego fun.

  

Now for the million dollar question, how do yo organize all your child's Legos? We have been just dumping them into Rough Tote containers. But we are looking for something new and different. Our son wants those Lego drawers, but I refuse to pay $40 for them!

I can't wait to hear from you and get some organizing ideas.

Have a great week!

Moe



"Is this drug corn free?"

It's one of those weeks already. I've been to the allergist again due to a corn reaction, I was told to get some allergy meds. But of course the allergist could not tell me which ones to take because she had no idea if it was corn free or not.

Fast forward to the pharmacist and guess what? He could not help me either. So both told me to start calling the manufactures of these drugs. Well here is just one response for you, it's pretty much a repeat of all the other companies responses I got.  Lets just say I am trying to "Be angry and sin not."

"While we perform comprehensive testing on the more common ingredients that may provide an allergic reaction such as gluten, nuts etc., unfortunately, it is impossible to test for every ingredient and we cannot guarantee that our products are corn-free, since the source of an ingredient may change from time to time. Some of the ingredients in the product may have been purchased by us from outside distributors and we cannot say with absolute certainty that cross contamination with this ingredient did not occur at their facilities. We understand how difficult this can be for you and hope we can suggest an alternative product should you remain concerned about the possibility of an allergic reaction.

We suggest speaking to your health care provider as he/she is more familiar with your allergy related reactions/symptoms. Your your physician is really best suited to respond to any concerns that you might have about any of the product's listed ingredients and the potential for an allergic reaction, based upon your individual sensitivities. If you decide to try the product and you are dissatisfied for any reason, please contact us and we would be happy to refund you the purchase price.

Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies fully comply with all regulations on ingredients in the countries in which our products are sold. Wherever regulatory authorities have set limits on certain ingredients, our product formulations either meet those limits or contain a lesser amount of the regulated ingredient. We are committed to maintaining the high standards of quality and safety that have been our hallmark for generations of consumers.Consumer Care Center"

Thank you for NOTHING!
So here is the response that I sent to them.

"Just to let you know I contacted you because my allergist and my pharmacist could not help with the ingredients list, so they both told me to contact the manufactures directly to find out what products would be safe for me. Since you make the product, you should know what is in it.

Thank you,"

Some days I feel like I'm at the end of my rope and I just can't go on. I had a nurse argue with me yesterday about whether or not one of my RX drugs contained corn. She flat out told me that there is NO WAY that X drug contains corn. Well she is wrong and I plan on photo copying the ingredient list that I have from my pharmacist and giving it to her. Cornstarch is one of the main ingredients in the prescription! I think that cornstarch is CORN! lol  Am I wrong? Please, please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, it has been an evil corn week here, maybe even month   :O)

Have a great gluten free, corn free, dairy free, homeschooling, only childing week!!

Moe

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!!

School is fast approaching and I wanted to give you one of my all time favorite websites for cooking during the school year  the Crockpot 365 blog.

The entire site is gluten free, but the recipes are for everyone!  Look under the Slow Cooking tab and click on Index for a listing of the recipes. She also gives a review along with reader comments after each recipe.
We love the  Baked Oatmeal, Chicken Teriyaki , Rotisserie-Style Chicken (this is WONDERFUL! and tastes like the expensive store bought). After I make this one I add about a cup or so of water to the chicken broth in the bottom of the crockpot and then I freeze it for later use YUM!
Check it out for easy meals during the school year.
Moe

Happy Independence Day!!

I am blessed to live in this wonderful country know as the USA!!
It's been a busy time for all of us I am sure. I've not been feeling 100% as I think I have been getting traces of corn in my diet somehow, the culprit may be some brown sugar that I bought from Kroger, the ingredients should have tipped me off, it just said BROWN SUGAR. Guess what? You can't grow brown sugar, so it must have something else in it. I called and they can't tell me if it contains corn, but said it could. THANKS FOR NOTHING! So they have lost my business.

So since I know that we are all busy this time of year, I thought I would post a few blog postings that have really touched my heart. And this one sure did. It revealed to me that I needed to ask our son for forgiveness in the area of being snappy when he wants my attention through out the day. I get engrossed in something like cooking, reading labels or trying to find something to eat that is gluten free, corn free and any of the other things that I am allergic too free....lol...besides a celery stick or carrot stick...hahaha.

Doing or Being? is the name of the blog post article. Read it and put it to good use this summer before school starts again and we get super intense on getting things done. I think that this hit me hard as I just read in my daily devotions of Martha/Mary and how Jesus responded to Martha, he made time for her, listened to what she thought she needed and did not get snappy with her, even though he was busy teaching with Mary and others at his feet.

Luke 10:38-42
^{38 "}Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
⁴⁰ But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
⁴² But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Happy Independence Day!
Moe

Where has Summer gone?

Well, here we are almost to July and I can't figure out where Summer has gone. We are getting ready to send Grandma back home after her long stay, she was suppose to be here about a month, but then decided that she needed to stay until her grandson's birthday (she got here April 11), so we are sending her off the day after.

Where have we been? Well we spent an incredible week at a Joni & Friends camp with our son's birthfamily, spent 4 days visiting with some friends out of state, attended my 30 year junior high class reunion, spent a few days in Chicago visiting friends, went to 6 Flags Great America, placed in the
4-H food show and 4-H food demonstration contest and took our son to a few days of technology day camp. To say that I am ready to fall to the ground, would be an understatement.......lol. But we are having fun.

Our son met a little girl at the Joni & Friends camp, so they plan on writing to each other. She lives in another state so the pen pal thing should be fun. I need to get our pictures developed so he can send them to her, but silly me, I used a disposable camera instead of my digital, so I have to mail these off to get them developed. Pray for this little girl and her family, they are being raised by grandparents and two of her siblings have special needs. Her brother is in a wheelchair with Cerebral Palsy and her sister has a seizure disorder. So life is not easy for this family, but they are relying on the Lord.

Had a few tough things to deal with like EATING! lol......everything at the Joni & Friends camp revolved around FOOD! I got terribly sick 2 nights because they were popping corn, and for those who don't know, I'm allergic to corn and that includes popcorn!! lol. The hardest part of all this traveling was getting food that I could eat. I did eat at Chipotle Mexican Grill twice and did fine. I just had the rice and chicken. All gluten free, dairy free and corn free. Just had to make sure that they change gloves before making my food since they do serve corn tortillas. Most of our hotels had kitchenettes in them and I was able to do some cooking while at our friends home. I even brought along one of our farm fresh chickens to eat and a few dozen farm fresh brown eggs. YUM!

In getting back to life in the real world, my home is totally trashed! LOL. To say the least, we have been dropping and running, so next week we will be getting things back in order and up and running. I came across this great website and wanted to share it with you. Homemaking: The List of Must dos.
It was a real eye opener to me. I know, I only have 1 child, but laundry does still pile up and I still have tons of dishes to do from cooking from scratch each day. Take a look at the link and tell me what you think.

Have a great rest of the summer and plan NOW for your upcoming school year. Relax outside while the kids play and have your planner book out and jot down some ideas, ask the kids what they would like to accomplish this school year and go from there. It's not too late to hit a convention, just Google and find one near you.

Moe

Neat recipe site

By now you know that I am a sucker for any recipe website.....lol. I can't pass one up, I've got tons of cookbooks, I just need to use what I have. hahaha. But then along comes a website like this Angelas Kitchen from my friend Megan. I clicked on it and looked around, saw some a gluten free, special diet, whole foods, and traditional menus with recipes. Off to the side I found some others including CORN FREE!!  (they have soy free, pork free and many others too!) What a wealth of info!

So check her out and see if you can find something new to eat, she even has once a month cooking plans.

Moe

Corn FREE & Gluten FREE products

Corn FREE & Gluten FREE products

I do need to add a small disclaimer here, this product does contain Xanthan Gum & Citric Acid, which can contain corn and can cause allergy issue with those that are very sensitive to corn products.

Awhile back I was at the Amish Salvage store and I came across a jar of Grandma Hoerners All Natural Pumpkin Butter, it was 18.2 oz for $1.25. The ingredients looked safe, but with corn you just never know, so I bought it figuring my guys could eat it if I was wrong. I called the company the other day and they were very quick in getting back with me. I spoke with Matt Beyer and asked my normal corn questions.....lol. Since I call so many places and they are clueless about corn allergies and tell me "Why would we put corn in our product?" They are thinking corn as in corn on the cob........hahaha.  Well Matt knew exactly what I was talking about and even shared some other corn free products that they sell. I did a little happy dance while on the phone with him, I'm sure he thought I was bananas
(oh wait, I can't be bananas since I'm allergic to those too!). Here is the website to check out the products Grandma Hoerners carries, now they do have some products that do contain corn, so make sure to read the ingredients.

Tomorrow I will do a review of the Grandma Hoerners All Natural Pumpkin Butter. I plan on making some cupcakes and then using my Cuisipro Cupcake Corer that I bought from Amazon.com. Love that thing! It really perks up gluten free cupcakes!! I will bake the cupcakes and then core out the middles and fill with the pumpkin butter, sounds good? We shall see.


Have a blessed day and remember what the Easter season is really about.
Moe

How to save money when eating Gluten Free (or on any special diet)

I got this listing from a gluten free group that I frequent. Some great ideas here! Sometimes I know we feel like a prisoner to our required diets, so I thought this cartoon was cute!
Moe

Here are some tips from Teri Gruss on cutting costs while eating
gluten-free.

How To Cook Gluten-Free on a Budget - Cut Gluten-Free Food Costs Now!
By Teri Gruss, MS

Here are 6 practical tips and resources to help you save money on the
extraordinarily high costs of gluten-free foods. Plan ahead and you
really can save on your monthly gluten-free food costs- and at the
same time eat delicious, healthy gluten-free foods.

1. Focus on cooking with foods that are naturally gluten-free

Fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy products, nuts and seeds, meats,
poultry and fish are all healthy, delicious, gluten-free foods. Focus
on planning a gluten-free menu based on these naturally gluten-free
foods. Pound for pound these foods offer a lot of nutritional value
for the buck, compared to refined, processed gluten-free products.

2. Make your own gluten-free foods rather than buying expensive,
processed products

Savings can be substantial when you make your own gluten-free foods,
especially breads and snack foods. Another advantage in making
homemade gluten-free foods is better flavor and healthier ingredients.

3. It is convenient to keep a few packages of commercial gluten-free
mixes on hand. But you can save a lot of money by making your own
mixes. Measure, mix, package and refrigerator or freeze and you have
created your own fresh convenience mixes. Along with saving money,
when you make your own gluten-free flour mixes, you can customize them
to your own tastes and nutritional needs.


4. Join forces with other gluten-free families and friends to lower
costs. Websites like amazon.com and Shop Gluten Free Grocers sell
gluten-free foods in multi-pack cartons, including pastas and flours.
Amazon's Shop Gluten-Free Groceries website offers free shipping on
orders over $25. Bob's Red Mill sells 25 pound bags of several of
their gluten-free products, including tapioca flour and all purpose
gluten-free baking mix. They also sell 4 bag cartons at discounted
prices.

5. Join a local support organization. You'll meet other people, who
like you, are battling the high costs of gluten-free foods- join
forces, buy in bulk and save money.

6. Use coupons

Nancy Lapid, About.com Guide to Celiac Disease recently blogged about
a website that offers printable coupons for gluten-free products.


Tips:

Once a month prepare your favorite gluten free convenience mixes. I
like to make 3 pound bags of all purpose baking mixes. This amount
generally lasts for several weeks. Use it to make homemade breads,
pancakes, waffles, cookies and pizza crust. Making mixes ahead of time
is SO much more convenient than making mixes every time you need a
gluten-free flour blend for a recipe.

Once a week bake your favorite gluten-free breads, wrap them up and
freeze. Remember, making homemade gluten-free bread is like mixing a
cake batter. Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat. Pour in a
bread pan, let rise and bake. Homemade gluten-free bread is faster and
easier than making traditional wheat-based yeast breads. So don't
shudder at the thought of making gluten-free bread every week. It
requires less time than you think! The savings, not to mention
superior taste and texture make it worth the minimal effort!

Make gluten-free cookie batter and refrigerate or freeze to use as
needed. There is really no need to buy expensive, ready-made mixes.
Mixing and storing cookie dough, like making bread is faster and
easier than you may think.

Make and freeze gluten-free pizza and pie crusts, which become
economical convenience foods, ready when you need them. Use a food
processor and this task is very fast and again, much easier than you
imagined.

Develop a dependable gluten-free recipe file. This will save you not
only money, but time and disappointment. I have a constantly growing
"favorites" recipe file- my "go to" recipes that I know work and taste
great. This not only saves money, it's healthier.

What You Need

Dependable, favorite gluten-free recipes
Gluten-free raw ingredients- purchased in bulk if possible
Homemade gluten-free flour blend mixes
Motivation
Shop with a grocery list and don't shop when you're hungry!
Consult with an accountant to see if you can deduct a portion of your food costs

Permission to whine?

I finally went for allergy testing, nothing for wheat (they still think that I may be gluten intolerant) showed up but corn did and corn is also IN EVERYTHING and causes stomach issues when you are allergic to it. Corn allergies can actually mimic Celiac Disease (without the villi being effected). 

So I pretty much have solved my problem with going wheat free since by not eating processed foods I pretty much cut out corn too by accident. And the 2 times that I thought I had gotten gluten last summer, I think it was actually corn. The one time I got sick I was eating Puffed Corn snacks and the other time I had Fritos.

Both Gluten and corn allergies are very similar in the way that the effect you.

So no corn, corn syrup solids, cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, dextrose, sucrose and all those other fancy junk sugars, ect. Corn does not have to be labeled in the USA since it's not considered one of the top 8 allergen :O(

They can sneak it in under names that we would never think of as CORN.

I am also allergic to

watermelon

red apples
grapes
pears
peaches
bananas
apricot
strawberry
raspberry
tomato
sweet potato
corn
almonds
Scallops (I don't like seafood anyway!) YIPPEE!  lol.
Thankfully I'm not allergic to chicken or eggs! We'd have to sell the farm.  lol

So any one want to refer me to a blog about corn allergies and cooking?

Here are some interesting places that corn hides, baking powder, powdered sugar, table salt,
hot dogs, candy, frosting, cold cereal and many more things.

I'm really thinking that the Lord is working with me (feels like hammering me!) on not making food a little god in my life. I love food and I love to cook. All the years that I was sick with stomach issues (we now know I was sick with food allergies) I spent my days thinking "What am I going to eat?" Where do I have to go today & what time should I eat so that I am not sick away from home?" So pretty much my thoughts revolved around food and what and when to eat so that I could function in my daily life. There are foods that I can eat, I just need to THINK before I eat (who wants to do that?). I have the "wilderness attitude" that the children of Israel had. "I'm tired of Manna and I'm tired of quail! I deserve better than this!"  Read the book of Numbers chapters 11 & 12 in the Bible and you will understand what I am talking about.

 I would covet your prayers in learning to deal with this. I go back to the doctor in one month to try some sort of rotation diet (not sure what that is).

Moe