Found this cute idea in the Taste of Home Halloween Edition.
I made my spaghetti with Tinkyada GF Fusilli noodles.
The boys had fun with it and ate the spaghetti but scrapped the orange bell pepper…figures!
I read an interesting article this morning in the Washington Post about Consumer Reports offering advice on gluten-free foods!
Click here to read the article.
I have not tried this yet, but today I found a gluten free couscous! It is a Roasted Brown Rice Couscous by Lundberg Farms.
From the back of the box:
Our Roasted Brown Rice Couscous is gluten free and made from 100% organic brown rice. The rice is gently crushed into tiny granules and then fire roasted to add that extra nutty flavor.
I plan on making something with it on Sunday so check back on Monday for my full review!
I made more cupcakes for Luke’s Halloween party at school tomorrow, but I toned it down a bit in the body part category! Two year olds can “spook” easily. 
This is great. Between last night and tonight, I have had 3 Boo Grams delivered to my front door by a mystery neighbor, well, 3 mystery neighbors! What is a Boo Gram you ask? Click here to read all about it.
This is a lot of fun and a great way to get your neighborhood acquainted. I thought I would share the link, as it is not too late so go have some added Halloween fun! We are off to deliver our Boo Grams!
How to start the tradition:
1. Create a Boo Bag/Basket of goodies (if this is a new activity for your neighborhood, you may want to create 3 or 4)
3. Find your unsuspecting target
4. Make the “drop”
5. Ring the doorbell and knock
6. RUN!!!
I made some “spooky” gluten-free cupcakes to send to Sam’s class today and thought I would share what a lot of sugary icing and body parts gummy candy can do!
Sam loves Halloween and so do I. This time of year, I just let go and allow myself to be a kid again.
To run with abandon…
and be a part of his world.
I found some gummy bears by Yummy Earth at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago. I thought they would be a good treat to put in the boy’s lunch boxes. Inside the big bag, there are 30 little portion sized packages. I was surprised at how much I liked them, and I am a gummy bear expert… they are my weakness, but only a certain brand, Haribo. For me, gummy bears have to be chewy, I do not like the soft squishy gummy candies. The Yummy Earth gummy bears are very similar to the Haribo brand in the chewy category, only the flavors are much more intense, like Yummy Earth’s suckers. Very good, for adults and children alike!
Yummy Earth Gummy Bears are certified organic and contain no artificial dyes, no corn syrup and are tree nut-free, peanut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, GMO-free and have no MSG!
I also found Franken Berry and Boo Berry flavored Fruit By The Foot by General Mills. Both are gluten free! Ahhh, the nostalgia! Although the cereals have wheat in them, it is still nice to see the pictures I remember from my childhood.
This is a naturally gluten free Weight Watchers recipe that I got from my buddy Kristen. It is delicious and super fast and easy to make!
Potato Leek Soup
1 1/2 lbs. Baking Potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 Leeks, pale green and white parts only, cleaned and chopped
4 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium Chicken Broth (I used Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock)
1/2 tsp. dried Thyme
3/4 cup Half-and-Half (I further reduced the fat content by using fat free half-and-half…I use this all the time to replace cream in recipes)
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
- Combine the potatoes, leeks, broth and thyme in a large saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Puree the soup in a food processor or blender (I used an immersion blender), in batches if necessary. Return the soup to the pan, stir in the half-in-half, salt and pepper; cook for 1 minute longer to heat through.
I added a salad and I also made some homemade cranberry sauce. Outside of the added sugar in the cranberry sauce, cranberries are a really good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) and Vitamin K, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C and Manganese. Cranberries are also high in antioxidants… which of course cancels out the sugar, right?
Cranberry Sauce
1 12-oz. bag Cranberries
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Water
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the cranberries and simmer until the cranberries start to pop (about 10 minutes).
- Remove from heat and place sauce in a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.
Sam: “I really like it, but I still think the circle kind is better.”
Luke: “Jello, I like it!”
I just saw this link come across on my Twitter page and thought I would share. This is especially important to me because of the decision we (with the support and encouragement of Sam’s pediatric GI and his pediatrician) made with Sam. Sam had a Positive blood test and a negative biopsy.
After the horrible medical journey I went on and the price I continue to pay and will pay for the rest of my life, for having had undiagnosed and untreated CD and DH for 20 + years. I refuse to let this happen to Sam. Why give him “poison” long enough to make his villi flatten and subject him to repeated invasive biopsies until we get the “official” diagnosis? A diagnosis that we already know?
Click on the link to go to the actual page.
Is Duodenal Biopsy Necessary in Celiac Diagnosis for Children and Adults?
Duodenal biopsy remains the gold standard for celiac disease (CD) diagnosis. However, it has several pitfalls and requires an invasive procedure in children. In the past few years, a more prominent role for a definitive diagnosis based solely on serology has been proposed. The predictive value of high levels of anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibodies has also been reported in retrospective CD cohorts. Based on these studies, some authors have proposed to start a gluten-free diet (GFD) for those patients with high tTG antibody levels, without duodenal biopsy. There is no agreement to start a GFD without biopsy to confirm mucosal atrophy. There are age-related differences in CD diagnosis that may be taken into account to evaluate the predictive value of tTG antibody for mucosal atrophy.
A research team, led by Dr. Santiago Vivas from Hospital de León recruited a total of 324 patients with celiac disease (CD; 97 children and 227 adults) prospectively at two tertiary centers. Human IgA class anti-tTG antibody measurement and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were performed at diagnosis. A second biopsy was performed in 40 asymptomatic adults on a gluten-free diet (GFD) and with normal tTG levels.
Their study will be published on October 14, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
In this study, adults showed less severe histopathology (26% vs 63%; P < 0.0001) and lower tTG antibody titers than children. Levels of tTG antibody correlated with Marsh type in both populations (r = 0.661; P < 0.0001). Multiple logistic regression revealed that only tTG antibody was an independent predictor for Marsh type 3 lesions, but clinical presentation type and age were not. A cut-off point of 30 U tTG antibody yielded the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.854). Based on the predictive value of this cut-off point, up to 95% of children and 53% of adults would be correctly diagnosed without biopsy. Despite GFDs and decreased tTG antibody levels, 25% of the adults did not recover from villous atrophy during the second year after diagnosis.
The authors suggest that because of the high predictive value of tTG antibody for mucosal atrophy, duodenal biopsy may not always be necessary. In children, CD diagnosis may only require clinical and serological features, thus avoiding an invasive procedure, and starting an earlier GFD. In contrast, for adults, CD presentation and monitoring are different, thus rendering necessary a histopathological confirmation in all the cases at diagnosis, and in some selected cases at follow-up on a GFD. Future CD guidelines may take into account these age-related differences.
My mom-in-law made this recipe last year and I remember thinking they were the best pork chops I have ever eaten. She gave me a photo copy of the recipe and it looks like it came from the magazine Cook’s Country. There are a lot of steps but it is worth the effort!
Smothered Pork Chops
4 slices Bacon, chopped fine
4 bone-in blade-cut Pork Chops, about 3/4-inch thick
Salt and Pepper
3 Yellow Onions, halved and sliced into 1/2-inch thick half moons
1 tsp. plus 1 Tbs. Light Brown Sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. Water
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 tsp. fresh Thyme, minced (I used 1 tsp. dried Thyme)
3 cups low-sodium Chicken Broth
1 Tbs. Soy Sauce (be sure it is gluten-free)
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tbs. Cornstarch
1Tbs. Cider Vinegar
1 Tbs. fresh Parsley, minced (I used 1 tsp. dried Parsley)
- Fry bacon in large skillet over medium heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towels, leaving the drippings in the pan (you should have 2 Tbs. bacon drippings, if not, supplement with Canola oil). Refrigerate bacon.
- Heat drippings over high heat until smoking. Meanwhile, pat pork chops dry with paper towels (VERY IMPORTANT!! I did not do this and promptly got 2 very painful oil burns on my arm. Hot oil + liquid do not go well together! ) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 3 pork chops until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side (they will be appropriately browned when you do not get any resistance when trying to lift the meat). Transfer pork chops to slow-cooker insert.
- Pour off all but 1 tsp. of fat from the skillet; add onions, 1 tsp. brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. salt and 3/4 cup water to now-empty skillet. Using a wooden spoon, scrape browned bits from bottom of the pan and cook over medium-high heat until onions are soft, about 6 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, (the smell alone makes this recipe worth making!) about 30 seconds longer. Pour onion mixture over chops in the slow-cooker insert. Add broth, soy sauce and remaining 1 Tbs. brown sugar to skillet, bring to a boil and add bay leaves. Pour mixture over onions in slow-cooker.
- Cover slow-cooker and cook on low until pork is tender, about 8 hours (or cook on high for 4 hours).
- When ready to serve, reheat bacon in large saucepan until crisp and transfer to a small bowl. Carefully transfer chops to serving platter with a large spoon and tent with foil. Discard bay leaves and pour liquid through a mesh strainer into a saucepan. Transfer solids to a food processor or blender with 1 cup liquid and blend until smooth. Stir back into into remaining liquid in the saucepan. Mix cornstarch and remaining 2 tablespoons water together in a small bowl and stir into sauce. Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 8 minutes. Add vinegar, season with salt and pepper, pour over chops and sprinkle with bacon and parsley. Serve.
Make Ahead: the recipe can be prepared through step 3 a day in advance. Refrigerate the chops separately and the onion/broth mixture together. In the morning, place the chops in the slow-cooker insert; bring the broth and onion mixture to a boil in a skillet then pour it over the chops. Proceed as directed.
I served the pork chops with mashed potatoes and Brussels Sprouts, (which were an adventure in and of themselves and will take up their own separate post!) and sweet potato pie for dessert.
