We have breakfast for dinner on average about once a week. These waffles are one item that is requested regularly. You can top them with butter, strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream and/or ice cream.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
• 2 Tbls Sugar
• 1 Tbls Barkat Gluten-Free Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 3/4 Cups Milk
• 6 Tbls Vegetable Oil
• 2 Large Eggs

Directions

1. Combine all of the ingredients and blend until smooth
2. Pour approx. 1/2 Cup of batter onto waffle iron surface. (*waffle iron settings may need to be adjusted for crisp waffles)
3. Plate cooked waffle and top with syrup, fruit, whipped cream or chocolate

I really knew nothing about gluten or eating “gluten free”. When my son Ryan was diagnosed with a gluten allergy we immediately started research on the web. Thankfully there were a number of sites that had information and links to alternate foods we could try. Look for some resource links at the end of this post.

I worked in food service for eleven years, some as a cook and some as a manager. Throughout my career I have come up against others with dietary requirements. One of the most common requirements was a vegetarian diet. I never had someone require a gluten free diet.

There was a point where I had to limit my diet because my gallbladder was giving me trouble. For a few months I had to avoid fatty foods until my gallbladder calmed down so it could be removed. After that I got to enjoy the foods I had to avoid and for the most part felt great. So why did I just recently change to a gluten free diet?

1. It’s Healthy -
When you embark on a gluten free diet the foods you replace are usually much healthier. Breads and other baked goods contain lots of white flour which is generally an unhealthy and cheap way to produce these products. Gluten free breads are made with healthy flours such as white rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch among others. On a gluten free diet you tend to eat more fruits and vegetables as your snacks and fillers during meals. We already eat too few of these so why not take advantage of the opportunity to introduce more into our diet. Another healthy plus is you start paying attention to labels more. With all the quick and easy meals out there now people forget to be health conscious with their choices. In addition to removing gluten you can also focus on reducing things like sodium and fat in your diet.

2. Family Members Must Do It Why Not you? –
If you have a family member that is on a gluten free diet for whatever reason, why not jump in and try it yourself? This is the way I started with the diet. My son has been on the diet for a few years and my wife and I made the decision to give it a try for a week to better understand what he goes through. We found that it is easier for us to just cook a complete gluten free dish than two separate dishes each meal. Since making the change it seems to have brought our family even closer. There is no long a disconnect we had by eating foods in front of Ryan that he may never get to eat.

3. Cooking is an Adventure -
When Ryan was on the gluten free diet himself he would stick to his ‘old stand-by’ meals of fluffer nutters with ricemellow and soy nut butter on tapioca loaf. Since the family made the move to gluten free we have been experimenting with numerous recipes. We first had to filter through ingredients that do not contain gluten. Once we had our list we got recipe ideas from magazines, cookbooks and websites. We are continuously adding the recipes we create or find to this blog under the tag Gluten Free. Not only have we created some great tasting foods but we have been creating a small library of foods everyone in the house loves.

Overall, going gluten free has been an easy transition for us. Over the past few weeks I have been feeling better and lost a few pounds in the process(not that I need to). One thing to be conscious of is to make sure you get your vitamins and minerals. As was said earlier you will and should eat more fruits and vegetables in addition to varying your diet. With so many great recipes coming to the web daily your meals should be the equivalent of non-gluten free in taste but healthier.

Resources:
Gluten Free Mall – Great place to get all the ingredients you need for healthy gluten free meals.

The Gluten Free Mommy – An assortment of great recipes that have never failed us.

Ener-G Foods – Wonderful product list of gluten free breads, cookies, pastas and more.

Our local grocery store had some turkey sausage that was completely allergen free for my son including gluten.

We used Barkat Animal Shapes Gluten-Free Pasta as the pasta which came out a perfect al dente. The feature of the meal though was the turkey sausage. The flavor it delivered to the dish made your mouth consistently water for another bite. We removed the casing from the sausage and cooked it up in a frying pan with some diced onions.

To plate it up just put a bed of pasta on the plate, spoon the turkey sausage and onion mixture on top and cover with Pecorino Romano cheese. A very flavorful and filling dish.

We are known to frequently have breakfast for dinner. Eggs, French toast and sometimes cereal when we are not feeling up for spending too much time in the kitchen. This Broccoli Cheese Quiche recipe turned out amazing. This recipe serves 4 people.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 large crown of broccoli chopped
• 3 potatoes chopped small
• 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 2 Tablespoons shredded parmesan

Directions
Sauté onion in the olive oil. Partially cook the potatoes in the microwave for about 5 minutes. Add broccoli, potatoes, salt, pepper and garlic to the sautéd onions and cook for approx. 5-7 minutes. Mix eggs, milk, cheddar cheese and parsley in a bowl. Spray a 9 inch pie dish with cooking spray. Spread potato and broccoli mixture in the bottom of the dish. Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes and broccoli. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Optional: You may wish to add chopped ham or sausage for an even more hearty meal.

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!

This recipe requires three components: the biscuit, the strawberries and the whipped cream. We had this as our dessert the other night and it was out of this world good.

Strawberries:
Clean and quarter a small carton of strawberries. Put them in bowl, lightly coat them with sugar and place in the refrigerator.

Whipped Cream:
Put a quart of heavy cream into a mixing bowl and start blending it. While you incorporate air(blending) add some sugar and gluten free vanilla extract to taste. If you are really generous with the amounts you can get it to taste like Cool Whip. Stop periodically and remove the mixer to test the stiffness. Over blending could result in butter. Keep refrigerated until needed.

Biscuits:
The biscuits came from a great recipe we found online here: Roben Ryberg’s Biscuits (Gluten-Free). We followed it to the letter and the biscuits came out amazing.