Christmas Treats and Gifts

As a society we celebrate occasions by eating.  When have you ever gotten together for a social event and not had food there?  The holidays seem like even more of that.  So, below is a few treats you can make to keep or share for the holidays.

 

Cherry Cordials

Peanut Butter Balls  and GF oreo truffles...for soy-free truffles, use buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese (the blog post was for Halloween, you can either cover them in fondant or dip them in dairy-free chocolate)

Caramel Chex Mix

Christmas Sugar Cookies with Peppermint Frosting

Cinnamon Rolls

Dairy-Free Fudge and Peppermint Fudge

Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Cup Fudge

Gingerbread Houses and Cookies

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls



Weekly Menu (12/4/11-12/10/11)

Weekly Menu (12/4/11-12/10/11)

Sunday:

Breakfast: cereal, banana chocolate chip muffins

Lunch:

• Ham Sandwiches (we use Udi's bread)
• Lays Potato Chips
• apple slices and carrot sticks with almond butter

Dinner

• Spaghetti using my Aunt's recipe and Jovial Brand pasta
• Homemade Breadsticks (this is the directions for rolls, to make them breadsticks, pipe them onto a greased cookie sheet using a pastry bag.  I like to put a little garlic salt on them after baking, too.)
• Steamed Broccoli
• Steamed Corn

Monday:

Breakfast: cereal and clementines

Lunch:  

• School Lunch:
  • Ham and Cheese Sandwich (with Udi's bread)
  • chips
  • clementine
  • Milk
  • Fruit Snack

Dinner:  

• Navajo Tacos
• Apple Slices, Carrot Sticks, and Almond Butter

Tuesday: 

Breakfast: Cereal and Milk

Lunch:

• School Lunch:

• Schar Crispbread with Cheese Slices and Pepperoni
• Lay's potato chips
• Clementine
• Fruit Snack

Dinner: 

• Chile-Lime Chicken
• Black Beans and Avocados
• Basmati Rice
• Nachos (we use Daiya Cheddar Shreds for the non-dairy ones)
• Carrot sticks, apple slices, and almond butter

Wednesday:

Breakfast: 

• Cereal and Milk
  

Lunch:

• Schar Crispbread with Cheese Slices and Pepperoni
• Lay's potato chips
• Clementine
• Fruit Snack

Dinner:

• Corn Dogs
  
• Oven fries
• Sweet potato fries
• Sliced Pineapple

Thursday:

Breakfast:

• French Toast and clementines

Lunch: 

• Grilled Cheese on Udi's bread
• Lay's potato chips
• Clementine
• Fruit Snack

Dinner:

• Apple Fritters
• Sausage
• Hashbrowns
• Bananas and Kiwis

Friday: 

Breakfast:

• Cereal and milk

Lunch:

• Schar Crispbread with Cheese Slices and Pepperoni
• Chips
• Clementine
• Milk

Dinner: The hubby and I are going out to my hubby's work Christmas party, so this is what the boys are having:

• hot dogs (choice of whether or not to have a bun, sometimes they want one, sometimes they don't)
• Carrot sticks with Almond butter
• Clementines

Saturday

Breakfast:

• One-eyed Sandwiches

Lunch:

• Sandwiches
• Chips 
• Clementines

Dinner:

• It's our Church's Christmas party, with dinner included. I'll post what it'll be and what we will do (whether we will supplement with our own food, etc), once I find out. 
• UPDATE: The church party is serving shredded beef, pita bread, red potatoes, and a salad with lettuce, apples, grapes & walnuts. The dressing for the salad is mayonnaise, lemon juice & honey. Also, boiled eggs and olives. The dinner is part of the theme of being back in Bethlehem. 
• So, I might attempt to make pita bread for us with this recipe (converting to dairy-free, of course) or this recipe, if I feel like I have the time this week. Or we may just bring corn tortillas. ;) 
• They are also serving red velvet cake and I will be making one for those of us with allergies using Cybele Pascal's recipe from The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook.
• Still no word on the ingredients of the shredded beef....

Gluten Free Churros for Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger

This is my first Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger event I've participated in and I've had fun with it.  Kalinda at Wheat-Free Meat-Free is hosting the event this month. I chose Heidi from Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom because her blog is definitely one that I follow and has been so helpful since our diet change a year ago.  She has tons of kid-friendly foods and because her family has multiple intolerances like mine, I don't have to figure out substitutes.  She has her recipes organized so you can easily find recipes that are dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, etc. Which makes it so much easier for those of us who have extra restrictions. 

I decided to make her Gluten Free Churros because (1) they looked absolutely divine (2) I've really missed churros and (3) These are dairy-free and soy-free!

 Before our diet change I never would have thought to make something like this, I would have assumed it was too hard...but, my word, these came together so fast and were quite easy to make.  The dough, of course, is quite sticky to work with, so I did find that it helped to pipe the churros out onto smaller pieces of parchment paper that could then be used to transfer the churros to the hot oil. I was basically picking up a piece of parchment paper that held 2 or 3 churros and turning it over and letting the churros drop into the oil.

These were amazing freshly rolled in the cinnamon sugar, but if you don't finish them all in one sitting (because you actually have self control, unlike me), then reheat them in the oven at 350F until they are hot.

Thanks, Heidi, for such fantastic recipes on your website!

Weekly Menu (11/27/11-12/3/11)

Weekly Menu (11/27/11-12/3/11)

 

Sunday:

Breakfast: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie, cereal, banana chocolate chip muffins

Lunch:

• Ham Sandwiches (we use Udi's bread)
• Lays Potato Chips
• apple slices

Dinner

• Barbecue Chicken
• Homemade Rolls (I have some in the freezer, that I'll thaw and heat in the oven for a few minutes)
• Baked Potatoes (a sweet potato for me, I just like 'em better)
• Green Beans and Yellow Squash Saute
• Clementines (my boys absolute favorite type of orange, mainly because it's there size)

Monday:

Breakfast: French Toast (using Udi's bread) and an Oroblanco (mix between a grapefruit and a pomelo) for me

Lunch:  

• School Lunch:
  • Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich (with Udi's bread)
  • chips
  • clementine
  • Milk
  • Pumpkin Bar

Dinner:   

• Chili Dogs using Udi's Hotdog Buns and the Pioneer Woman's Chili (I make a big batch and freeze it)
• Lay's potato chips
• Apple Slices, Carrot Stick, and Almond Butter

Tuesday: 

Breakfast: Cereal and Milk

Lunch:

• School Lunch:

• Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Lay's potato chips
• Clementine
• Pumpkin Bar
• Milk
  

Dinner: 

• Pork Tamales
• Chili Beans
• Basmati Rice
• Nachos (we use Daiya Cheddar Shreds for the non-dairy ones)
• Carrot sticks, apple slices, and almond butter

Wednesday:

Breakfast: 

• Cereal and Milk
  

Lunch:

• Schar Crispbread with Cheese Slices and Pepperoni
• Lay's potato chips
• Clementine
• Fruit Snack

Dinner:

• Chicken Nuggets
  
• Oven fries
• Sweet potato fries
• carrot sticks and pear slices with almond butter

Thursday:

Breakfast:

• French Toast and clementines

Lunch: 

• Ham Sandwich on Udi's bread
• Lay's potato chips
• Clementine
• Fruit Snak

Dinner:

• One-eyed Sandwiches
• Sausage
• Hashbrowns
• Bananas

Friday: 

Breakfast:

• Cereal and milk

Lunch:

• Schar Crispbread with Cheese Slices and Pepperoni
• Chips
• Clementine
• Milk

Dinner:

• Pizza (everyone gets their own pizza and we top it how we like: tons of veggies and no cheese for me, Daiya cheese for me little one, and pepperoni and cheese for my hubby and older son)
• Carrot sticks and Apple slices with Almond butter
• Clementines

Saturday

Breakfast:

• Cereal and Smoothies

Lunch:

• Sandwiches
• Chips 
• Clementines

Dinner: 

• Crepes with fillings: peanut butter, chocolate hazelnut butter, jam, bananas, ham, eggs...basically whatever they want to fill them with
• carrot sticks and almond butter

Coconut Cream Pie

I made the pies this year for our family's Thanksgiving feast (at least for those of us that have restricted diets). So, I asked my sister what pie she would like to have, and I knew the answer before she gave it to me:  Coconut Cream Pie.  Her family absolutely loves coconut, and of course, coconut cream pie.  I absolutely love it, too, but my little family absolutely hates coconut (funny thing, because we have a lot of coconut in our diet, I guess I just disguise it well).  So, I was thrilled to make this pie and share it with my sister and her family and I hope they get to make it often, because I'll only get to make it when I can find someone to share it with.

Coconut Cream Pie

1  8-9" pie shell, baked (instructions are below, for baking the pie shell, also the recipe for the pie crusts makes 3 single crust pies...I make a full batch and freeze what I don't need)
1 can coconut milk (I use Thai Kitchen)
1 1/4 cup So Delicious Original Coconut Milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup GF flour blend
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons dairy-free margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Directions
Have the baked pie shell ready.  To bake my pie crust, prep it as outline here. Once prepped and in the pie tin, prick the bottom ~8 times with a fork.  Cover it with a double layer of aluminum foil and bake at 450F for 8 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for another 5-6 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack.

In a saucepan, scald the coconut milk and non-dairy milk.  In another saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt.  Gradually whisk in the scalded milk.

Cook for medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Cover and cook for two more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into the beaten yolks, to temper them, then add the yolks into the hot mixture.  Cook for another minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add in the margarine, vanilla, and coconut shreds.  Let the mixture sit until lukewarm.

When the mixture has cooled, pour the mixture into the pie shell.  Allow to chill in the fridge before serving with your non-dairy whipped cream.

This post is featured on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.