Archive for March, 2010
Disney Princess Vitamins Gluten Free!
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Just wanted to share the good news: The Disney Princess chewable vitamins
I took a picture of the label (posted below), in case there are other ingredients you avoid. But check out what isn’t in them: milk, lactose, gluten, wheat, yeast, shellfish, and sodium. That works for us! (Be sure to check the label before you buy them. There may still be some bottles on the shelves that contain wheat starch.)
My daughter loves to pick out the princess shape and color to have each morning with breakfast. She prefers the chewable vitamins over the gummie vitamins. However, if your child prefers the gummies, you can also purchase Disney Princess Gummies Vitamins
Notable Links:
- Celiac Family writes about Flintstones, Spider-Man Gummies, CVS brand, and more
- Celiac Family writes about Wegmans W-Kids chewables
- For information about the gluten content of other medications, check out www.glutenfreedrugs.com.
Menu Plan Mar. 29
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I’m so excited that I’ll be spending this week with my extended family. Three birthday celebrations and Easter activities promise to make this a busy, fun-filled week. Hope you have a great week, too!
Monday – Clay Pot Chicken
My dad will be preparing clay pot chicken with rice. We’ll be celebrating his birthday with a gluten-free cake from Cupcake Island.
Tuesday – Pork Chops with Mushrooms
Cooking boneless pork chops with baby bellas and serving with leftover rice and broccoli.
Wednesday – Cheeseburgers
We’re hoping to pick up gluten-free hamburger buns at the Great Harvest Bread Co. to serve with grilled burgers. We’ll serve them with homemade French fries.
Thursday – Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken enchiladas made with a green sauce (salsa verde), and served with cilantro rice.
Friday – Pizza
For my niece’s birthday, we’ll be celebrating with gluten-free pizza from Godfather’s and gluten-free cupcakes.
Saturday – Grilled Steaks
Serving steaks with grilled potato slices and a tossed green salad.
Sunday – Easter Brunch
We haven’t finalized the menu yet, but I think it will include Eggs and Hash Browns casserole, Berry Fruit Salad, Banana Coffee Cake, and waffles or pancakes made with Pamela’s baking mix.
Need more menu ideas?
- Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness is hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap this week with a theme of cheap and easy meals. This week’s easy meals on my menu are hamburgers, pizza, and steaks.
- Here are a couple more that are very quick and easy:
- Cheap and easy meals might include:
Check out this week’s gluten-free menu swap to see what other gluten-free friends are eating this week.
- Laura at OrgJunkie.com hosts Menu Plan Monday every week. You’ll find links to hundreds of meal plans (not necessarily gluten-free) there.
- Or, check out some of my past menu plans.
Chocolate Creme Brulee – Dairy-Free!
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So, if you’ve read my original post about Chocolate Crème Brulée, you’ll know that I discovered this wonderful dessert at the Bonefish Grill. It was so good, I just had to try to recreate it! I thought I did a pretty good job of coming up with a good recipe, though I don’t put in the Grand Marnier that I suspect the restaurant does. It does taste really good, but I find that an hour after eating it, I don’t feel so good. Too much dairy left me feeling bloated and lethargic.
So, when I read that Amy (of Simply Sugar & Gluten Free) was hosting this month’s roundup for ‘Go, Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ with a theme of Guiltless Pleasures, I knew what I wanted to submit: A Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Chocolate Creme Brulee recipe.
So, I started re-working my recipe to use coconut milk instead of milk or cream. Creating baked recipes is never easy for me because I am always distracted or interrupted by the phone, kids, schedules, etc. That means that measurements and directions often get messed up — like when I forgot to put the vanilla in, or when I put in whole eggs, instead of separating them like I intended to do. So, a few trials and errors later, I finally got it done.
It has a rich chocolate flavor and is quite satisfying. It is not as smooth and creamy as the original recipe with cream, but this delightful dessert is definitely a guiltless pleasure for me! I haven’t submitted a recipe for ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ before, but I am happy to present this recipe as my new Guiltless Pleasure. It’s not exactly an everyday recipe, but one that is easy to prepare, easier on the tummy, and oh so yummy.
Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Chocolate Crème Brûlée
Ingredients:
1 (15 oz.-can) Coconut milk (Don’t use the “lite” variety.)
3.5 oz. of chocolate (I used a dark bar of 70% cocoa.); finely chopped
5 Egg yolks
1/3 Cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
For sugar topping: 2 Tbsp sugar + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300° F. Position oven rack in the middle.
- Shake up a can of coconut milk. Then pour it into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. (If shaking the can of coconut milk didn’t blend the cream and liquid, be sure to whisk together until evenly blended.) Once the milk is simmering, remove it from the heat and pour in the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and blended well with the coconut milk.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Pour a small amount of the hot chocolate mixture into the yolks and thoroughly whisk together. Then, slowly whisk in the rest of the hot chocolate mixture. Continue to whisk together until smooth. (It’s important to do this slowly so you don’t cook the egg yolks with the hot chocolate mixture.)
- Whisk in the vanilla, and set aside to cool.
Place four 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups in a baking pan. Fill the ramekins with the chocolate mixture. Then fill the baking pan with water so it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the custard is set. Carefully remove the custards from the water and cool on wire racks. Refrigerate the custards for 6 hours or overnight.- Preheat the broiler. In a small bowl, thoroughly combine 2 TBSP sugar with 2 TBSP brown sugar, breaking up any clumps. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly over the tops of the custards.
- Broil the custards 2 inches from the heat source for 2-3 minutes to melt the sugar. Watch the custards carefully so that the sugar melts and lightly caramelizes but doesn’t burn. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Additional Notes:
- If you have a kitchen torch, you can use that to melt the sugar instead of the broiler.
- To get the ramekins close enough to the broiler to melt the sugar, I place the ramekins on top of an upside down baking pan and place it on the top rack of the oven.
Notable Links:
- Celiac Family’s recipe for Chocolate Creme Brulee with dairy.
- Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free hosts ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ – Guiltless Pleasures!
- ‘Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free’ Blog Carnival schedule at Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried
- For more gluten-free recipes with coconut milk, visit Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.
Chocolate Eggs in a Cookie Basket
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This is one of my favorite Easter treats to make for the kids. OK, it’s really a treat for me, but don’t tell them that. 
) Chocolate eggs in a “basket” made of chocolate chip cookie dough — what could be better? You will need an Individual Tart Baking Pan
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Chocolate Eggs in a Cookie Basket
Ingredients:
Chocolate Chip Cookie dough (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix.)
Candy-coated chocolate eggs (I used Cadbury Mini Eggs, but you can use M&M’s Chocolate Eggs, too.)
Directions:
Mix up chocolate chip cookie dough according to directions, and drop a large mounded tablespoon of dough into each tart impression in the pan.- Bake cookies in the tart pan according to the recipe directions.
- When cooking is done, remove pan of cookies from the oven and press chocolate eggs into the center of each cookie tart. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, gently remove the cookies from the pan by grabbing the edges of the cookies and pulling out with a slight twisting motion. The pan will still be hot, so be careful not to touch it with your fingers!
Additional Notes:
- If the cookies start to come apart while trying to remove, they are probably too soft and warm. Let them cool down for a few more minutes. If the cookies won’t move at all, they are probably too cool. Set them back in the oven for a couple minutes to warm them up. They should now release easily from the pan. (I’ve never had to spray my non-stick pan, but if yours isn’t a non-stick type, you may want to use a non-stick spray before dropping the cookie dough onto the pan.)
- If you can’t get the chocolate eggs, or want to make these for another occasion, try using a different chocolate candy. These are really good with Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cups or Hershey’s Kisses, too!
- One batch makes about 24.
Notable Links:
- For more gluten-free recipes, check out this week’s edition of Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker.
- For more Easter treats, take a look at Celiac Family’s Meringue Duckies and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Menu Plan Mar. 22
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Last week we were happy to see the sunshine and the warmer weather welcome Spring this year. I’m already thinking about salads and lighter meals, but I know the cooler weather is not quite behind us yet. So, you’ll find our menu this week somewhere in between heavy warm meals and cooler, lighter meals. (Funny how the weather affects the food choices.)
Monday – Southwestern Chicken Salad
We didn’t get a chance to eat this last week, so we’ll try again this week. We’ll use up leftover Mexican chicken to top a green salad with cilantro, tomatoes, salsa, and guacamole.
Tuesday – Grilled Chicken with Angel Hair Pasta
Grilling chicken breasts to top angel hair pasta. And for a little flavor, I’ll add a lemon-basil sauce. Serving with roasted asparagus.
Wednesday – Cheeseburgers
Serving cheeseburgers with scalloped potatoes and broccoli.
Thursday – Chicken Tikka Masala
Using Patak’s Tikka paste to make this wonderful Indian dish. Serving with basmati rice.
Friday – Fish and Chips
I’m hoping battered and fried tilapia will renew my kids’ interest in fish. Serving with French fries and corn on the cob.
Saturday – Lettuce Wraps
Looking for recipes to make yummy Asian-fusion lettuce wraps. I’m thinking about a chicken filling with a peanut butter sauce. (If you have a recipe to recommend, please leave it or a link to it in the comments. Thanks.)
Sunday – Leftovers
Cleaning the leftovers out of the refrigerator. Everyone chooses their own meal.
Need more menu ideas?
- Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness is hosting this week’s Gluten Free Menu Swap. She chose sunbutter (or peanut butter) as the theme ingredient. We are one of those “weird” families that eat peanut butter, and I am planning to make a peanut butter sauce for the lettuce wraps this week. Check out this week’s menu swap to see what other gluten-free friends are eating this week.
- Laura at OrgJunkie.com hosts Menu Plan Monday every week. You’ll find links to hundreds of meal plans (not necessarily gluten-free) there.
- Or, check out some of my past menu plans.
