My New Blog Location

I have relocated my blog. I hope this does not come as an inconvenience to anyone. Please be sure to update your subscription and bookmarks! 

My blog is now located at:

http://www.lifeglutenfree.com

Chives and Basil Rice

Some of my favorite things: onions, fresh basil, and chives. This sauce is simple to make but very piquant. 

All you need:

1 or 2 cups of rice

Yellow onion 

Chives (fresh preferably)

Basil (fresh preferably) 

Chop, dice or otherwise slice:

1 Large Onion

7 or so stems of Chives

7 leaves of Basil (fresh from outside your door, if you can!)

Add a generous serving of organic extra-virgin olive oil to a sauce pan.

Add the onions, chives and basil

Sprinkle some himalayan salt (or other)

Saute until onions are translucent but not brown. Serve over organic white or brown rice.

To expand the recipe you can add vegetables of your choice, if you wish. I enjoyed this, however, because I got to relish the taste of basil and onions. Mmmm.

-heather

Ruby Range GF Mixes

I have an array of recipes and photos to add to my blog. I have been unable to do so, however, for I cannot find my sd card reader [to clarify, I can't get my pictures on my computer without this device]. I hope to finish unpacking soon.

My husband said "well, you can still post something!"

So here it is.

We recently tried a pancake mix by the Ruby Range. It has mesquite flour and teff flour. The directions on the back call for dairy ingredients. Since we are casein free, we substituted for non-dairy ingredients with fantastic results.

Mesquite flour:

• Has sustained desert dwellers for centuries

• Has a low glycemic index

• Is a source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc

• Adds vegetable protein including lysine to the diet

• Supports sustainable agriculture world wide

• Can be used as a tasty condiment or in baking

Teff flour:

• Is a source of calcium, iron, phosphorous, copper and thiamin

• It is high in amino acids and contains higher levels of lysine than wheat or barley

• Is used throughout Ethiopia and is thought to have originated there


Sourced information:

Mesquite Flour

Teff Flour

These pancakes are so wonderful. They have a nutty and almost chocolatey burst of flavor. They have a smooth, melt in your mouth texture. Enjoy them drizzled with maple syrup or agave. 

-heather

Onion Crackers and "Would you like a bag?"

Trying to get back in the groove of blogging. I haven't had much time because we just moved into a different house.

While we were moving, we bought some things to have a quick easy snack. These Onion Crackers by Ener-G were one of the products we decided to try for the first time. Surprisingly, they were quite good.



I spread almond butter or sunflower seed butter on them. They would also be good with a bowl of soup. But as it is summer, I would opt for a dairy free dip or simply some seed or nut butter!


Speaking of sunflower seed butter, these Sunbutter Crunch Snack Bars are really good. I love that there are so many nut free options now. My daughter is allergic to most nuts.

Buying those onion crackers, to me, was the equivalent of going out to eat. We don't buy much in the way of package foods, at least compared to mainstream america. We do buy things like sunflower seed butter, coconut milk and coconut water, etc. But we do have an awareness of the foods we eat, and we make an effort to eat mostly non-packaged foods. We also use reusable bags, and if we forget them, we opt for no bag and carry whatever we bought. My favorite reusable bag is the Chico Bag. It stores easily - I carry them in my purse - and they hold a lot and are durable.

I have found that the "cloth like" reusable bags that stores are offering (whole foods, target, walmart, etc) are not durable long-term. They rip easily.

Do you use reusable bags? Just think, every time you buy items and are given a plastic bag, then you are contributing to the estimated 500 billion plastic bags a year, or 1 million per minute[[reusablebags.com].

I recommend reading this article: The Real Cost of "Free"

It seems like, in the not-so-distant past, cashiers or baggers used to ask "would you like a bag?"
But then, suddenly, your items started to just be tossed into a bag regardless of whether or not you really needed one. 

I have had times where I was buying one item that could easily be carried in my hand, and the cashier put in a large plastic bag. Each time, I would either say "I don't need a bag" or take the item out myself. Sometimes, if someone was with me, I would say loudly how wasteful plastic bags are. Usually, cashiers respond with kindness when I opt for no bag, or bring my own bag. But I have had times when I would get this "what do you mean you don't want a BAG? it's EASIER" kind of look.

It seems like someone flipped a switch and all of a sudden we use plastic bags for any kind of item regardless of whether we really need them, simply because it is easier. When we used to go to the movie store, they would try to put our movies in a bag. That to me seems very strange. Why do movies need a bag?

If you use reusable bags, please share which are your favorite. We use cotton canvas bags too.


-heather

A new winner for the gluten free products prize

Unfortunately, the original winner - Pauline - never responded to my email. The rules were the winner had 4 days to respond.

The new random winner is Tamara from GFCF Frog Blog

Congratulations!!!

And the winners are....

For the Gluten Free Products prize:
Pauline

For the book prize:
Shelly

Congratulations!! And thanks to random.org for helping pick random winners.

I will be contacting you soon!

After I contact the winners, they have four days to respond. If no response, a new winner will be drawn.

-heather

Honey Rooibos Iced Tea

The contest has ended!

Today, movers will be here in about an hour and I shouldn't even be on the computer because we still have stuff to do. We were faced with having to move with a less than two week notice. To make a long story short, we found out that our daughter is allergic to dust mites. We found a place that only has hardwood floors and jumped on it.


For that reason, I will be announcing the winners by Monday. I had originally planned to announce them today, Thursday. I apologize for the inconvenience. I hope everyone will understand.




How to make the tea:

• Heat 7 cups of water in a sauce pan

• Add 2 Rooibos tea bags

• Add 2 tablespoons of raw honey [or to taste]

• Add to pitcher

My glass pitcher happens to hold 57.25 ounces, which I think is kind of odd. That comes to about 7 cups of water. You can adjust the recipe to fit your needs.

Health benefits of Rooibos tea:
• Rooibos tea contains no colors, additives or preservatives, making it a natural beverage. It contains no caffeine.

• According to studies conducted in South Africa and Japan Rooibos has been shown to aid in health problems such as insomnia, irritability, headaches, nervous tension, and hypertension.

• Studies also show that this tea contains anti - spasmodic agents, which can relieve stomach cramping and colic in infants.

• In South Africa Rooibos has been used to treat allergies such as hay fever, asthma and eczema very effectively .

• It is also used to treat irritated skin. Rooibos is brewed and placed directly on infected areas. Rooibos contains anti - oxidants which can help slow the aging process and boost the immune system.

• This tea contains almost no oxalic acid, making it a good beverage for people prone to kidney stones.

• Rooibos naturally contains the following minerals: copper, iron and potassium, calcium, fluoride, zinc, manganese, alpha- hydroxy ( for healthy skin ) and magnesium (for the nervous system) are also components of this tea.

**Facts from AfricanTea.com

Happiness Cookies

I call these happiness cookies for two reasons. One, after making the first batch and letting them cool, I was choosing one to give my husband to try. Somehow, I dropped it on the floor. As I went to pick it up, I noticed that the chocolate chips were arranged in a perfect -- but quite unintentional smiley face. There were two eyes, a nose, and then several chocolate chips in a curved mouth form.

How about that! Too bad I didn't think to take a picture :)

Second reason was I enjoyed this thoroughly. It was so much fun to make something for my husband to take to a work meeting. With all the challenges we have been having -- with our daughters allergies and so forth -- I took a moment to really savor the small things. I am so thankful.

I used Cherrybrook Kitchen Sugar Cookie Mix

It calls for:
1/4 cup of milk substitute (I usedRice Milk)

1/2 cup of margarine or oil

2 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract, Gluten Free

** I added 1 organic egg

After dolloping the cookie dough onto the sheet, I sprinkled each cookie with chocolate chips from Enjoy Life

** I have made this mix before. It is kind of dry and although the cookies come out moist from the oven, they hardened quickly. My solution to that problem was to add 1 organic egg. Now, I know that my blogger address is "glutenfreeveganbaby," but my husband has lately been adding organic eggs to his diet. I have as well. The reason is because my daughter has so many allergies, and so we did some allergy testing. She reacted to basically everything on the vegetarian panel: flaxseeds, millet, quinoa, brown rice, hemp seeds, etc. So, as you can imagine, our choices are quite limited!

-heather