Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger: Alexa from Lexie’s Kitchen

I am really excited to finally be participating in my first “Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger” event!

The Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger program was started by Sea of Book of Yum, in 2008.  This is a great way to get to know gluten-free bloggers by trying some of their recipes!

August’s Adopt a GF Blogger is being hosted by my dear friend, Shirley of Gluten Free Easily (and I get to meet her in person tomorrow, yea!!!!).  Be sure to visit Shirley’s blog to find out about other fun adoptions and/or to sign up and participate (you do not have to be a blogger to join in on the fun)! 😀

I decided to pick Alexa from Lexie’s Kitchen for my first official “adoption!”

I was first introduced to Lexie’s Kitchen by another great gluten-free blogger buddy of mine, Maggie of She Let Them Eat Cake (love me some Maggie!). 😀  Maggie “adopted” Alexa back in June, and you can check out her post here.

Let me just say, Alexa “had me at homemade deodorant!” Ever since I saw that post, I have had a great time getting to “know” Alexa better (and I get to meet her in person tomorrow too!).

Just like with our family, Alexa’s son Miles was the catalyst for changing the way her family eats.  Miles had been suffering from hypotonia, gross motor/speech delays and chronic diarrhea when she decided to take matters into her own hands and help restore her son’s neurological and intestinal health through nutrition (you go mama bear!).  You can read more about Alexa’s journey here, it is a touching story and quite inspirational!

Alexa’s recipes are all gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free, so she has been quite helpful to me as I learn the ins-and-outs of cooking dairy-free for my youngest son.

I wanted to make more of Alexa’s recipes, but I ran out of time with all the back-to-school craziness going on.  I settled on a lovely Cinnamon Pomegranate Glaze and used it to accompany a pan-fried pork chop and mashed yams (this was the first time I ever had a true “yam,” they are actually quite different from sweet potatoes):

The cinnamon pomegranate glaze is so good that I had trouble keeping my brood away while I was taking my photos.  Sam (God love him), got a hold of the squeeze bottle containing the glaze and proceeded to drink it straight up (which is why the first photo is lacking in the glaze department and I had to remake it for the second photo! 😉

The other recipe I made of Alexa’s (actually, it would fall into the “not-really a recipe” category and it is a GREAT lunchbox snack!) were the Justin Nut Butter on Apples.  I happen to have quite a bit of Justin’s Chocolate Peanut Butter on hand because it is one of Luke’s favorite treats (and it is dairy-free!).  I decided to make a naturally gluten-free, dairy-free (and dye-free) healthy alternative to those damn Goldfish crackers.  So without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to…

the ANTI-Goldfish Cracker! 😀

These are definitely addictive!  I will offer a few tips on making them though:

• Use a metal cookie cutter, they are sharper and make a clean cut than plastic cookie cutters.

• When I make apples slices for the boys, I do a 5 minute dip in an ascorbic acid and water solution to prevent the apples from turning brown. (I follow this guideline for approximate measurements).

• The nut butter will fall out of the cookie cutter imprint, so for each apple snack, I cut the shape out of one slice (and fill with the nut butter) then I lay the decorated slice on top of a whole apple slice (kind of like a cracker base).

Alexa has a lot of other great looking recipes that I plan on making when I return from Seattle, check these out:

Quick Strawberry Rhubarb (and red beet) Syrup

Almond and Hemp Milk Yogurt

Saturday Pancakes (these would be fantastic to make ahead and freeze for those frenzied school mornings!).

Pirate Smoothie (the name alone will get my boys interested!)

Frozen Mounds of Refried Beans (I do this with mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes and it works great, I call them “eventually instant mashed potatoes!”).

Did you see any particular recipe’s on Lexie’s Kitchen that piqued your interest?