Not only did this dish come out tasting amazing but 2 days of left overs for the entire family tasted just as yummy. The recipe came from Gluten Free Mommy Easy Chicken Pot Pie. It really is an easy recipe and honestly seems ‘dummy’ free.

Natalie has some incredible tasting recipes which we have been trying out periodically. This recipe is one that will be requested over and over. It had a wonderfully light crust and was chock full of vegetables and chicken.

Using a bit of natures bounty we have been enjoying a very simple and delicious dessert…Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Our local grocery store had a huge flat of strawberries on sale. If you can I would see if you can sample the strawberries first before you buy to make sure they are flavorful and sweet.

Instructions:
Rinse and dry your strawberries. Melt Enjoy Life Foods Gluten-Free Chocolate Chips in a microwave safe bowl or measuring glass. Approximate how much chocolate you need per number of strawberries you have. Using a spoon scoop the chocolate from the bowl and lather onto the strawberry leaving the stem uncovered. Place finished strawberries on a plate covered with wax paper and place the plate in the refrigerator until serving time.

This dish is my wife’s creation and it came out amazing. Here are the ingredients:

• Cooked Chicken (chop in food processor)
• Hummus (or just chick peas and garlic mashed)
• Mission® Corn Tostadas (Estilo Casero)
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Lay the gluten free corn tostadas on a baking sheet. Spoon the hummus mixture onto the corn tostadas spreading it to the edges. Next put a layer of finely chopped cooked chicken about 1/8 of an inch. Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese as thick as you like and put the baking sheet in a 325 degree oven until the cheese is melted. Pull the “stackers” out of the oven and place on a rack to cool a bit. When you plate them you can top them with Newman’s Own Salsa, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, olives or just eat them plain.

We happened upon this delicious little snack at our local Panera Bread in Scranton, PA. Ryan got a kids entree and enjoyed a bed of lettuce and some sliced turkey along with this tube of organic lowfat yogurt from Horizon Organic. We read the ingredients and it was completely safe for Ryan which means no gluten, no wheat and no food colorings. Perfect! The two flavors we have seen are blueberry and strawberry.

A word about Panera… While they do not have anything that is explicitly “Gluten Free”, they are more than accommodating when you ask for something on their menu without the bread or other accompaniments. My mom walked into the store tonight and asked if they had any more of the Horizon Organic Tuberz. They did and she asked for two boxes. The manager came out and hooked her up with the boxes at a very reasonable price (not retail). Kudos to that manager and Panera for their attention to customer satisfaction. They made a little boy extremely happy.

(Written by Susan)
Day 7
The day begins and I am feeling great. I have my usual Chex with Craisins and all is good. For lunch, I heated up the leftover pizza in the oven which allowed the crust to become crunchier. Today, the pizza tasted even better. Greg and I agree that we would like to continue using this recipe. Along with the pizza we had a tossed salad with our favorite sweet Italian dressing.

Shortly after lunch, we headed out to a birthday party. Our friends were great about having foods that were safe for Ryan to eat. He was able to have treats from the prize bucket (tootsie rolls), chips and ice cream. I received notice in advance that there would be cupcakes for the kids, so I made sure to bring a cupcake for Ryan so he would feel included. Ryan had a great time at the party and he even received an ice cream bowl containing treats that were safe for him as a party favor. I can only hope that all the parties Ryan attends will be so accommodating.

We had a special dinner to conclude my gluten free week. Greg helped me prepare a roast chicken with roasted red potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots. I baked a loaf of gluten free bread in my bread machine and we also prepared cold slaw as a side dish. To complete our delicious meal, we had strawberry shortcake. The shortcake tasted amazing and was a great way to finish a very successful week. I am excited to continue to eat gluten free foods and to prepare meals for my family which are healthy and safe for everyone to eat!

We got the thin pizza crust recipe from the book Easy Gluten-Free Baking. Instead of the prescribed method we mixed the dough in our bread machine. Elizabeth Barbone also has a web site Gluten Free Baking that you can join for a small monthly fee and get amazing recipes.

Tomato sauce does not agree with Ryan so we make his pizza with sliced black olives and cheese. I think he would eat a whole can of black olives if given the chance…he loves them. We made a regular cheese pizza with sauce and a couple of pizzas with broccoli, olives, garlic and cheese.

The salad in the picture was topped off with T. Marzetti Sweet Italian Dressing which is gluten free along with a number of other T. Marzetti’s dressings. I like sweet things and this dressing is simply the best Italian dressing I have ever had.

(Written by Susan)
Day 6
Another morning and another bowl of Chex with Craisins filled my belly. This morning, however, I was hungry by 10:15 and decided to have some popcorn. For lunch, I had leftover ham and potato soup with a couple of dinner rolls. This soup is great the first time around and it is even more delicious the second time around. For a snack I had some grapes to satisfy my cravings for something sweet.

I decided to try a new recipe for pizza crust using my bread machine. The dough came out extremely sticky, but I managed to roll it out and shape it into thin circles. After baking the crust, it turned out crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The crust had a rice flavor to it, but Greg and I agreed that it tasted pretty good. Ryan on the other hand did not like the new crust. He did not want to eat the new pizza and begged for his old pizza. The crust he loves has oregano, garlic and basil in it. Next time I will add these ingredients to my mix and see if Ryan can be persuaded to like it. The day would not be complete without trail mix, so of course, I just HAD to have some after dinner.

Next we headed to Wegmans and Sam’s Club to buy some groceries. This was by far the most difficult part of my week. Until now, I had been surrounded by foods that were safe to eat and I did not have too many temptations near by. If you have not experienced Wegmans baked goods before, you are missing out on some of the most delicious breads and sweet treats. Unfortunately all of them contain gluten. So we went into the store to pick up some fruit and gluten free items, both of which are located just to the right of the bakery. The sweet aromas were so tempting. I refused to let my eyes even look at the baked goods. Ryan did not seem the least bit bothered by the bakery section, thank goodness. Next was Sam’s Club, which also has a bakery section. We walked right past the cakes to get to the food items we were looking for. As we were passing by Ryan said, “Mom, that strawberry cake looks delicious!” It broke my heart to see all that food that Ryan could not eat and possibly never be able to eat. I never realized how difficult it must be for someone with food allergies to even go to the grocery store.

Ryan’s situation is a little different from a lot of people who have Celiac disease. He was diagnosed at such a young age, that he has almost exclusively experienced gluten free foods. Ryan is so accustomed to his food that he does not even seem to be tempted by foods containing wheat. I have noticed that Ryan had found comfort in the fact that his food was only for him and no one else. I do feel a little guilty this week for taking this away from him. However, I think the benefit of this experience has been worth it. Greg and I would like to try to cook only gluten free meals now. It has felt so good this week to have only gluten free foods on our dinner table. There was no separate bread or butter for mommy and daddy which could not come in contact with Ryan’s food. Also, I did not have to cook separate foods such as pizza for Greg and me and a separate pizza for Ryan. I feel like our family has been united at the dinner table, which is very satisfying.

(Written by the Wizard)
As we sit at the dinner table our youngest one cries. He is not interested in eating and when given any food he just throws it on the floor for the dog to eat. Dominic does this a lot. He very well may be hungry but he is a super stubborn little boy and when he does not feel like being in his chair he chooses not to eat. My wife and I continue to eat. We attempt to give Dominic some food hoping he will give in and start eating. “Here Dominic, you like potatoes, try it.” The potato goes on the floor. “Dominic eat this piece of chicken.” The chicken goes on the floor. On Saturday Dominic did this exact routine. We wanted to go out and get some odds and ends from Sam’s Club so after dinner we hopped in the van and went for the ride. Sue brought along Dominic’s dinner and at various times throughout the trip tried to feed it to him. He was not having it. Our total trip time was about two and half hours. That stubborn little boy waited until we got home and eventually made us give in. He had to eat something! So while he curled up in Sue’s lap he munched on gluten free pretzels and water.

Ryan, being the observant one that he is, sees how things happen with Dominic and his stubborn ways. While Ryan is not anywhere near as stubborn he realizes how he can leverage things into getting what he wants. I am much tougher on Ryan and usually make him do things how he is expected. But that certainly does not stop him from trying. Usually, before lunch or dinner Ryan is playing. Either we are playing some sort of game like hockey or Wii or he is playing by himself. When lunch or dinner time comes around and he does not want to eat he will start complaining that his stomach or chest hurts. Normally this would cause alarm but it only seems to happen just before he is about to eat and after he needs to stop playing.

These boys are really learning how to manipulate people starting with their parents. I’m sure many parents out there have their own stories of similar habits from their kids.

(Written by Susan)
Day 5
Shortly after I wake up each morning I feel starved. For the past two mornings I have not felt hungry until about an hour and a half after waking up. We will see what tomorrow brings to see if this is a coincidence or related to my new diet. I had my usual Chex with Craisins which again kept me feeling full up until lunch time. For lunch today I was expecting to be disappointed. We were out of the house and I packed three leftover dinner rolls (2 days old) with soy butter and all natural fluff. Ryan has “fluff-r-nutters” nearly every day. I have tried them in the past on regular white bread and I never enjoyed eating them. If there is nothing in the house to eat I might resort to eating a fluff-r-nutter sandwich even though I really didn’t like the soy butter. Today, I actually enjoyed eating my sandwiches. The soy butter did not leave a funny aftertaste and the sweetness of the fluff tasted great with the rolls. For a healthy accompaniment I had several celery sticks.

This afternoon for a snack I decided to mix things up a bit and have a large piece of oatmeal bake in place of my trail mix. That oatmeal bake has been a great alternative. For dinner I fixed a tuna fish sandwich on a dinner roll and a tossed salad with shredded cheese on top. I found a ranch dressing that is gluten free and topped my salad with it. Looking for something crunchy to go with my dinner, I had some corn chips. Tonight, my sweet tooth struck and I had to have a small bowl of trail mix along with a cup of hot tea. That was a yummy combination!

I am feeling very good after five gluten free days. My body feels satisfied and I do not feel bloated like I have felt in the past. Now I am thinking about extending my gluten free diet for another week to see how my body is feeling. I don’t know that just one week is long enough to make conclusions about the impact of one’s diet.

(Written by Susan)
Day 4
To start off my day, I had my usual mix of Chex with Craisins. It is such a tasty breakfast and gives me energy for my busy mornings. Today, I did not even feel hungry for a morning snack. Lunch consisted of chicken, rice, corn and a roll. Not only do leftovers taste great, but they are also quick and easy. For something sweet after lunch I had some grapes. Of course in the afternoon I had my usual trail mix snack.

I decided to prepare ham and potato soup for dinner which is one of Ryan’s favorite meals. Tonight, I made a couple of adjustments to my usual recipe.

Ham and Potato Soup

• 1 small onion
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium carrot shredded
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 cups diced potatoes
• 5 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions: Cook the potatoes and save 2 cups of the water from the potatoes. Melt the butter and sauté the onions. Add the carrots and sauté. Mix in the cornstarch, salt and pepper. Slowly add the milk and heavy cream. Stir regularly while bringing mixture to a boil. After mixture has begun to thicken, add the potatoes, reserved water, and ham. Cook for a few more minutes to warm ham. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese on top.

To go with the soup, we had leftover dinner rolls which were delicious when dipped into the creamy soup. I felt very satisfied after dinner tonight and did not have anything else to eat or drink. As I mentioned in previous posts I have been feeling better. I am not positive that the diet is the only factor but from my reading it certainly can play a huge role.