What do you get the person who’s allergic to everything?

Gluten and dairy and sugar, oh my! The holidays are an allergen nightmare for those of us who deal with everything from Celiac disease to Candida, but they can be an even bigger nightmare for their loved ones who want to make them feel special and included. Overjoyed cries of “I can eat THAT?!” are music to my ears, and they can be to you too. Here’s a list of a bunch of gift ideas you probably haven’t thought of for the Temperamental Tummies in your life.

Stocking Stuffers

Made On: – This company is primarily run by just one gal, who is passionate about and fantastic at what she does. She makes hard lotions, bug block, baby rash lotion, hair butter (a favorite!), soaps, lip balms and tinted lip balms that are 100% natural, hand made, and fragrance, allergen, and preservative free! Around the holidays, she has a lip balm called Vanilla Dust that is a favorite in my family! It’s got a slight sparkle and a delicious sugar cookie smell. Her customer service is top notch, and every repeat customer gets to choose a free product with their order! It’s called Made On: because every product comes hand-labeled with who made it and on what date, so you know it’s always fresh. She even has mechanic soap for guys with fresh pine needles to get those hard-working hands clean, and shaving soap too! Check out her website here!

Red Apple Lipstick– A lot of people don’t know that makeup can contain gluten and all kinds of toxins! That’s not a gift, that’s a curse! This Red Apple isn’t poisoned, however. It’s just the opposite, and it’s completely gluten free, so it’s safe for the Celiac in your life! Their product line specializes in fantastic lipsticks, glosses, and eyeshadows, and they released a mascara that has rocked my world. They’re all high grade, and made by my friend Jay and his lovely wife Andrea especially for Celiacs! Check out my review of their products here! Check out their website here!

Surf Sweets– Christmas candy is notorious for containing allergens like corn, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, and dairy. For your little kids, or even your big kids, they have some of the best tasting gummy bears and jelly beans on the market! You’ll have to hide them from everyone else! Check out my review here! 

Lovely Candy Co–  They have the most incredible caramels, licorice, and fruit chews I’ve ever tasted, and they’re gluten free, kosher, NON-GMO(!), no HFCS, and no artificial anything! Gotta love the care that comes with buying from a small family business! They’re available at Target, and a few other stores.

Other great stocking stuffers include: hypoallergenic earrings (check Etsy for great options!), fuzzy socks, a new day planner (TJ Maxx has them for $5!) and fun pencils/stickers/etc, tea (The Republic of Tea is certified gluten free!), a candle (try finding a local candle company!), or a great scarf (just check to make sure they don’t have any textile allergies, like I do!).

Gifts

A pound of coffee (here’s a list of gluten free ones!) and a great new travel mug! (I just received this as a present and it’s awesome)

Skincare! (shameless plug for L’BRI- it’s a local company here in Wisconsin. Aloe vera based, truly natural skincare that’s incredibly affordable!)- Here’s the website, and here‘s a link to see which products contain things like soy or honey if you’re vegan. But really, if you’re getting them skin stuff, check ingredients!

A monthly subscription box! I’m a fan of ones for tea, personally, but here‘s a link with 12 different gluten free food subscription boxes!

Gift cards to places like health food stores, whole foods, etc so that we can buy ourselves gluten free treats we normally wouldn’t spring for!

Look for a local gluten free cafe and buy them a gift card to that place! Try using www.findmeglutenfree.com to search your area!

Gluten free treat mixes, like brownies and cookies- they’re not cheap, but really nice to have around.

A nice lunchbag set, because us allergic people ALWAYS have to bring our own food, but why shouldn’t it be cute?!

Bath salts…baths are great when you’re hurting from a reaction.

 

 

Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I got my Candida diagnosis, I was SURE I’d never have a good chocolate chip cookie again. Sure enough, a year later, I still had yet to find a recipe that was worth the cost of ingredients. Ladies and gentlemen…here it is! Grain free (no gluten!), sugar free option, dairy free, and DELICIOUS! I totally geeked out over my first bite. So without any ado, BAKE!

Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with Sil Pat mats or parchment.

In one bowl, mix together:

1 cup blanched almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together

6 Tbsp coconut oil, room temperature (solid)

3/4 cup coconut sugar (will need to bake for less time), brown sugar, or (if you’re me) xylitol with 1 Tbsp coconut nectar mixed in for a very low sugar “brown sugar”. *You can also do just the xylitol with a squirt or two of Sweetleaf Butter Toffee flavored liquid stevia for completely sugar free.*

It won’t look like regular “creamed butter/sugar”…it’ll look a bit like brown play dough.

Beat in:

6 Tbsp natural almond butter at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg (I haven’t tried it with any substitutes, but you’re welcome to try)

Once combined, mix in the dry ingredients, and then 1 cup Lily’s Stevia sweetened chocolate chips, or homemade sugar free chocolate chips.

*If your coconut oil was liquid-y when you added it, refrigerate the dough before baking it.*

Using a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop, place 12 on each pan (this recipe should yield about 20 cookies), and press down lightly with your palm.

Bake for 14-17 minutes, and then let cool completely on the pan, if you don’t eat them all first.

 

Ore-Ida Totchos

I was recently given a coupon for a free bag of Ore Ida Tater Tots to try from my Influenster box, and while Ore Ida has always been my top choice for french fries, I’d never tried the tots! I was impressed that, while they’re not “Gluten free certified” the ingredients are not gluten-containing. They use corn flour for the crispy breading! I was inspired to try the “Totchos (check out link for more recipes!)” or tater tot nachos recipes I’d seen everywhere, and I had some leftover carnitas that I’d made in the crock pot, so I gave it a shot! This is pretty much the easiest recipe ever. #oreidatotchos #contest

Carnitas Totchos

Follow the instructions on the Tater Tot bag for baking them.

While they’re baking, assemble your favorite Ultimate Nachos toppings-

Cheese (dairy free or regular, depending on your dietary needs)

Meat (Carnitas, ground beef or turkey seasoned with taco seasoning)- already cooked!

Refried Beans

Olives

Black Beans

Corn

Leave the oven on when you take the done tots out, put the tots into a baking dish, and top with everything you want, topping it with cheese, minus the herbs, sour cream, salsa, chopped peppers and guacamole. Those go on later.

Pop it back into the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is all melty to your satisfaction. Top with the rest of the fun stuff and eat up!

Chopped herbs (cilantro, basil, chives, etc)

Guacamole

Sour Cream

Chopped peppers

Shredded lettuce

Salsa

 

Sugar Free Lemon Bars

I discovered something about myself several months ago that I’m surprised I never knew; lemon is my favorite flavor. I always thought it was the obvious: chocolate, but honestly, lemon always wins. It’s tart and sweet all at the same time and offers a complexity of taste that largely one-note chocolate can’t match, imho. Since I was diagnosed with Candida, I found myself craving different things, but lemon bars have been at the top since summer began. The other day, gfJules posted a recipe for her lemon bars, and for once in my life, I mostly followed it. The butter can be replaced with Earth Balance sticks for dairy free, and I replaced the sugar with xylitol since I’m not allowed to eat much (read: any) sugar right now, even natural fruit sugars.

Lemon Bars

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Crust:

Cream together 1/3 c butter or non-dairy alternative and 1/4 c xylitol or cane sugar.

Add in 1 cup all purpose gluten free flour (You can use gfJules flour, I used Namaste AP flour, or you can use my cake flour blend) and beat until crumby, but don’t over mix. Press into the bottom of an UN-OILED 8×8 pan (I used a 9 inch round).

Bake for 15 minutes

Filling:

Add these ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly. If using xylitol, mix it a little extra.

2 eggs (or egg substitute such as 1/2 c. extra firm tofu blended with 1 tsp baking powder)

3/4 c. xylitol or cane sugar

2 Tbsp gluten free all purpose flour

2 tsp shredded lemon zest (I used a heaping Tbsp orange zest and it turned out amazing!)

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp gluten free baking powder

Pour over crust and bake 20 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack and cut only when completely cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if you want before you serve for a more traditional lemon bar look. To double, bake in a 9×13 pan!

 

Dudley’s Fruit Bars 2.0

I’ll start off by saying these are NOT gluten or dairy free. You are absolutely welcome to substitute a whole grain gluten free flour blend like this one and use butter substitute or coconut oil, and I’ll probably do that myself at some point and let you know how it turns out, but if you get to it first, please comment and let us all know! We recently discovered the source of my gluten issues was leaky gut and Candida, and since we’ve actively healed a lot of it, I can tolerate small amounts of whole wheat flour and dairy without any reaction. This is why you’ll notice a new category at the top called “Candida Friendly”. If you’re looking for specifically gluten and dairy free recipes, there’s a tab special for you as well so you can skip past recipes that may not work with your dietary needs. Thank you for your understanding as I embark on this new journey! I assure you, there will still be plenty of new gluten and dairy free recipes, as I’m still sticking mostly to that diet.

In the mountains of California, in the tiny town of Santa Ysabel, there’s a bakery famous throughout southern California- Dudley’s. In fact, my sister-in-law named their enormous, slobbery dog after it. He’s cute, for a blockhead that can bruise you with his tail. Dudley’s bakery is especially famous, not just for their bread, but for their almost gingerbread-like cookies, called Fruit Bars. They’re rectangular, hearty, molasses-type cookies, with a strong emphasis on ginger and raisins, and they’re my husband’s favorite EVER (emphasis his). So, naturally, I needed to be able to make them, since we live in Wisconsin, but in such a way that enabled myself to eat them as well. Let’s face it; baking something yummy that you can’t eat just sucks, and I won’t do it if I can avoid it (unless I’m being paid…I know, I’m a pushover). I checked out the ingredients and did a random search for cookies with a similar mouthfeel, since there’s no way I’m using “malted barley flour” whatever that is, as well as tons of honey and molasses, which makes them delicious and gives them this caramelized outer layer (which I was able to achieve with WAY less sugar and low glycemic to boot, which my candida self LOVES). Granted, I can’t gorge myself on these- they do still contain some sugar, but they are great for a now-and-then treat, and mucho brownie points with the husband! I found this recipe, and naturally did things completely differently. Enjoy!

Dudley’s Fruit Bars 2.0

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup oat flour (just stick some old fashioned oats in the food processor for a bit)

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

Cream together:

6 Tbsp butter, softened (You’re welcome to try it with coconut oil to make it even more candida-friendly)

1/4 c xylitol or preferred “sugarless sugar”

Add 2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup coconut nectar

Blend thoroughly, then slowly add the dry ingredients.

Once mixed, fold in 3/4 – 1 cup of unsweetened dried fruit of choice– I used cranberries (You don’t want to use too many or you’ll add way more sugar than you want to eat, if you’ve got candida like me)

Scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool on pan.

Makes about 18 cookies, more if you use a smaller cookie scoop.

 

Gluten/Dairy/Sugar Free Chocolate Tart

I was diagnosed with Candida and leaky gut at the end of last year, and I took a hiatus from blogging to try and figure out my new restrictions. Coconut will now be used a lot more frequently, as the caprylic acid in coconut is a natural Candida killer! For Mother’s Day, I had less than an hour to whip up a dessert, so, of course, I did something totally new. That’s logical, right? Thankfully, it turned out to be FABULOUS, and I don’t use all caps very often, but this recipe deserves them. The original crust recipe, with just a few changes, can be found here, along with another recipe I’d like to try one day. The brownie recipe is a derivative of the common 35 calorie brownie recipe that’s circulating, that is disappointing as a brownie, but works wonderfully as a pie filling. Not only is it delicious, but it’s good for you! Give it a shot; you won’t be sorry.

Gluten, Dairy, and Sugar Free Chocolate Tart

Crust:

In a food processor, combine until it forms a ball

2 c unsweetened flaked coconut

1/2 c almond flour

1/4 c coconut oil, melted

2 eggs

2 Tbsp coconut flour

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 droppers of English Toffee flavored liquid stevia

Press into a 10 inch tart pan with pop-out bottom sprayed with coconut oil- make sure you press a little rim around the edges, as in the picture.

Bake at 350 F for 15-18 minutes (just slightly lighter than golden brown…it will continue baking with the filling)

Once out, turn the heat up to 400 F

Filling:

Throw everything in the blender and let go on high for 1 minute

3/4 c unsweetened vanilla coconut milk yogurt or (if you can handle dairy) non-fat plan greek yogurt

1/4 c unsweetened almond milk

1/2 c unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder (using dutch process makes the flavor much more rich!)

1/2 c old fashioned oats

1/2 c xylitol, Truvia, Swerve, or Sugarless Sugar

1/3 c unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

2 droppers chocolate flavored liquid stevia

Pour onto tart shell and bake for around 20 minutes, until set. Since this is low fat, you don’t want to overbake it or it’ll dry out.

Let cool and serve with coconut whipped cream; you can even get fancy and put some vegan chocolate shavings on top!

 

Gluten Free Allergen Free Expo 2015- Chicago! Ticket giveaway!

If you remember, last year I was invited to participate in the GFAF Expo out in Schaumburg, Illinois. Here’s the post from last year so you can see some of my pictures. I got SO MUCH stuff! This expo is HUGE! All the gluten free, allergen free vendors you can possibly think up, and some you’ve never heard of before! Samples everywhere, classes, giveaways, free product, product for sale, you name it! Well, I’m here to give you all the information, as well as some FREE TICKETS! The whole event is sponsored by Glutino and Udi’s, so you know it’s going to be good.

The expo is May 2-3, 10 am – 4 pm at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel, 1551 Thoreau Drive North
Schaumburg, IL 60173

There’s free parking everywhere, and several extra lots. It fills up fast so come early!

Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for children ages 3-12, and you get a FREE one-year subscription to Delight Gluten Free Magazine ($24 value!) with a ticket purchase! Use code “ADVANCE” until 5/1 to get 20% off your ticket!

There will be 4 classes every day, held upstairs in the Euphoria room. Classes range anywhere from “Learn to be free of chronic allergies” to “The Celiac Project”, and they’re taught by presenters you don’t want to miss- experts in their fields and living the allergen free lifestyle themselves. You have no better advocates! Check out the class schedule here!

The vendors I’m most looking forward to are Canyon Gluten Free Bakehouse, Dr Praeger’s Gluten Free, Garden Lites, Freedom Foods, and of course, Red Apple Lipstick.

When you leave your comment on this post as part of your entry, make sure you enter an email address so I can get a hold of you when you win! The contest ends on April 29th, so enter quick and share with your friends!

 

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,100 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

 

One Pot Beef Stroganoff

Growing up, my mother was a big fan of “from scratch” food, so on the rare occasion I actually got a boxed meal, it was pretty exciting. Lately, I’ve been craving Hamburger Helper, so tonight, in between having to run outside for a fire alarm (not mine!), I created this! It’s the ultimate in comfort food, and it comes husband approved! Not only that, but it’s simple! I apologize for the poor picture, but let’s be honest. Stroganoff, while delicious, isn’t exactly pretty.

One Pot Beef Stroganoff

Brown 1 lb ground beef sprinkled with smoked paprika. Don’t drain unless it’s got a ton of fat.

Scoot the ground beef to the edges and bring some of the fat to the center. Make sure it’s hot, and add 1 Tbsp gluten free all purpose flour, whisking constantly to make a roux.

Mix the beef in, and add 2 cups warmed unsweetened original almond milk or goat milk and 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (1 1/2 c. hot water and 2 tsp vegetable soup base). 

Grind some sea salt and black pepper over it, and sprinkle with

cayenne pepper (1/4 tsp),

Chicago Steak seasoning (1 tsp),

dried onions (1 tsp),

and just a light sprinkle of garlic powder. 

*You may also brown fresh onions and garlic with the ground beef if you choose, but I’m allergic to it raw, so we don’t keep it in the house.

Add 1/3 c Worcestershire Sauce, stir, and bring back up to a simmer.

Stir in 1 pkg gluten free pasta of your choice (I used penne, rigatoni is more traditional)

Lower the heat, cover, and allow to simmer until the noodles are al dente.

Add 1/2 c melted vegan cream cheese and taste, adjusting seasonings to your preference.

Since I’m not dairy allergic, just lactose intolerant, I added an extra 1/3 c lactose free plain kefir, but you can use a vegan sour cream instead.

Stir together and plate!

Serves 4-5

 

Crockpot Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat)

Before my GI issues started, Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana was my absolute favorite soup. Out shopping with my mom, we’d stop in for lunch and just eat soup and salad! Since then, I’ve been craving it, but knowing it has cream in it, it’s not worth the stomach cramps. I finally found a recipe for it (and I apologize to the original owner, because for the life of me, I can’t find the link to it!) that doesn’t take 3 years and more energy than I have to create! Gotta love the crock pot. I kept this as simple as possible and changed it to be gluten and dairy free so I never have to live with an unfulfilled soup craving again!

Crockpot Zuppa Toscana

Cut 4 Italian sausages (or Andouille, which is what I used. It’s a little spicier.) in half lengthwise, then into equal sized chunks. Brown in a pan for a few minutes and sprinkle with cayenne.

Add to crock pot, as well as:

4-6 large red potatoes, thinly sliced on the mandolin slicer

1 Tbsp dried onion or 1 chopped onion

2 Tbsp minced garlic

At least 4 c. vegetable broth (I used 5 1/2), depending on the size of your crock pot, enough to cover the potatoes and meat.

Cook on High for 3-4 hours, or low 5-6 hours

30 minutes before serving, mix together so there are no lumps

1- 1 1/2 c. unsweetened original almond milk

3 Tbsp gluten free all purpose flour

Add to soup, along with 1 c. chopped kale

Cook on High for 30 more minutes, until soup thickens slightly.

Salt, pepper, and more cayenne to taste.

Enjoy!