Fall Menu & Nutrition

Oct 14
Posted by: Under: Menus & Item Lists

I just need another name for my ‘menu’.  Menu is so boring and it is what I’ve been doing nearly weekly for over 13 years.  Yuck.  I need a word that will encompass the exciting opportunity to prepare fresh and seasonal foods with familiar spices and herbs.  Combined with hot tea, fresh water, fresh apples, and hot cereal.  That is fall to me.  It’s the signal to clean up the garden.  Put the outdoor toys away; watch the frost disappear in the sunshine, and snuggle in for the winter.

With Fall, comes anticipation of Christmas, the exciting possibilities of a new school term, and an innate nesting instinct.  For all my city-dwelling-ness, I all of the sudden dream of canned fruit lining my pantry, and home-made pies in the freezer.

How weird is that?  I’ve tried lots of those things when  I was younger and trying to be what I thought a wife should be.  For now, I’m settling with a little extra shopping for fruits and veggies in season, a little knitting, and some ‘empty’ time to let the creative juices flow. More of that on my personal blog:  Mommy Motivation.

Enough rambling, here’s my “menu”:

bkfsts:  hot cereal(we use Bob’s Red Mill GF Hot Cereal), toast and fried eggs, cold cereal

Lunches:  tuna salad wraps, ham & cheese bagels, GF Prepared Soup

Supper:  leftover turkey & potatoes, turkey lasagne, hot “chicken” caesar salad, turkey tacos

Snacks:  hot popcorn, Quaker Chocolate Chip Rice Cakes, Plain rice cakes with melted cheease, Yoplait 0% Source yogurt topped with GF Corn Flakes.

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Contamination Tip – storage

Aug 21
Posted by: Under: Contamination Tips

Have you ever been to Dairy Queen and seen where they store the ice cream cones?  Directly above the ice cream dispenser. Yup.  They do.  I wonder what kind of morsels fall downward when you rip one of those cones out of the dispensing box?  Gravity, friends.  Just can’t escape it.

But when it comes to contamination, you can make it work for you!  Keep all items with gluten below the counter tops and kitchen surfaces.   We use cereal for the girls with gluten (not much, but barley flavoring counts!) and we store it in a cupboard below the counter.  Where, as luck would have it, they can reach it to help set the table for breakfast.  :)

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Are Corn Flakes gluten-free?

May 31
Posted by: Under: Gluten Free Breakfast

In an answer: NO.

Almost all cereal that you buy in the grocery aisle, especially those marked with “whole grain” are made in a factory where the machinery is cross-contaminated. It is up to you if you trust it. AND it is important to look for sources of malt. Malted flavoring is the ONLY added ingredient to baked rice puffs besides rice and salt, ie: Rice Krispies!

I have only found gluten-free cereal in specialty stores, marked “Gluten Free”. It is also important to read ingredient lists (as it always is) because I’ve noticed a trend to mark a package “Wheat Free” when it is NOT GLUTEN free. Just simply, as it states – WHEAT free. Always look for “malt” barley, rye, and its derivitives like spelt and kamut.

One exception is the “Crunchy Corn by PC Organics. It is gluten free. And SOMETIMES major grocery store lines carry Nature’s Path products. They are all organic and healthy but they are NOT all GLUTEN FREE – watch them carefully!!! Their rice puffs are contaminated, as are their corn puffs. But these Honey’d corn flakes are great – the kids LOVE them! And they have a honey-free version too.

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