Ack!  I dropped the ball around here!  But I’ve been busy behind the scenes making the posts more searchable… (now that the links actually work…) and I’ve updated some of the shopping pages too.  These are designed to be used by the newly diagnosed.  Those, who are in the what-the-heck-do-I-eat stage!

Check out the *updated* shopping list for milk, and milk products!

These will nearly all be gluten-free:

• yogurt, flavored or plain
• milk, plain, varying types and flavors
• eggs
• cheese
• sour cream
• chip dip
• cottage cheese
• margarine
• butter
• whipped cream

Things to watch extra carefully:

• items flavored with ‘malt’ – usually derived from barley
• processed cheese and cheese spreads
• cheese dips balls and spreads (covered in various crumbs)
• yogurts and cottage cheese cups with toppings, crumbs or muesli

Some little bunny told me there may be an excess of turkey in every kitchen this weekend.  I present to you:

The Turkey Makeover

• Curried Chicken & Rice and substitute leftover turkey meat for the chicken!
• BBQ Chicken Quesadilla
• Chicken Alfredo & Rice Vermicelli (the unpretentious version)
• Warm Chicken Walnut salad
• Polynesian Rice

This menu is part of Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie’s blog.

Through some get this crazy woman off my back luck I had a little tour of the ice cream cake making facilities at Dairy Queen and I’m here to report my findings.

I was there, innocently enough, ordering an ice cream cake for my 5 year old.  She is not the celiac in our family, but c’mon, which father do you know, wants to sit out the birthday cake festivities?   Apparently the lady thought that I would stop asking questions (like, “you’re not going to reuse that utensil are you?”  “Do you make more than one cake at a time?”  “Do you re-use spreading spatula’s?”) if she SHOWed me around the place.  She looked at me with a grin on her face after only the fifth or sixth question (I was just getting started), and said, “Come here.  I’ll just show you.”  Works for me!

And I have to build up to this - this is big stuff(I don’t get out enough).   Did you know that the crumbs in the middle of the DQ cakes are pre-packaged?   I kid you not – pre-packaged.  They are sealed, frozen and just slipped out of the package and placed on the first layer of ice cream.  This means there are no boxes or bags of crumbs in the cake area.  There are no spatulas used to spread the crumbs before the second layer.  I also asked to see saw the sprinkles, sparkles, and food dye that is used in the air brush, and the roses.  All of it is gluten free.

Five stars from this DQ fan!!

Originally posted Nov. 6, 2007:

Monday: Peanut butter roll-ups/     Glazed Salmon & Pasta

Tuesday: broccoli & cheese soup w/ Bread/  spaghetti and meat sauce

Wednesday:  cottage cheese&fruit & crackers/teriyaki chicken rice bowl

Thursday:   left-overs/ taco's

Friday: Order In or Go Out night

Saturday:  Pancakes/ soup & sandwiches/ Dad’s night to cook

Sunday:  //Fancy Dinner: we set a tablecloth, wine glasses, use all the appropriate cutlery and insist on proper table manners.  The kids love the candles, and juice in their wine goblets.  //  Lasagne & Caesar

Okay, I’ve been racking my brain to come up with something that would substitute for mangos since that is not an ingredient that I usually keep.  So far, I’ve come up with a combination of peaches and pinenuts that would likely be a good substitute.  Since I don’t have either of those, I’ve decided its easier to go get a mango.

Ingredients:

• 1 small mango, peeled and finely diced
• 1 cup of finely diced pineapple tidbits
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
• 1/2 red pepper, seeds and core removed, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint (or dried)
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (this needs to be fresh)

Combine in a dish and refrigerate.

For the salmon:

• 2 lbs (1 kg) salmon fillets, skin removed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp thyme

Rub salmon with oil, and spices.

Preheat oven to 425°F and roast 15 – 18 minutes, until cooked through.

Serve with salsa.

This is based on a recipe from Readers Digest, March 2009, and it sounds absolutely divine!   Now I have to go find me a mango.