Cast Iron Goodness

These are my two lovelies:

Anyone who has been to my place has seen them sitting on the range, side by side, (and hopefully when you saw them they were cleaned out and oiled for the next use!) Cast iron is pure awesomeness for it's natural non-stick abilities without the funky nonstick treatments that are so popular, but are bad for our food.

I was introduced to cast iron when I was in college and took a little trip to visit my aunt and uncle. My sophomore year I was no longer eating in the cafeteria, "The Galley," and had a kitchen in my apartment. So, when asked what I could use as a Christmas gift, it was a cast iron skillet. My mother thought I was SO WEIRD! I have always been grateful that she took me serious enough that she got me a beautiful 12 inch skillet. I have had the 12 incher for almost 10 years now, and it literally gets used just about everyday. My smaller 10 inch cast iron skillet came into our family when my son went gluten free three nearly three years ago, and it was our "gluten free skillet." Since I went gluten free, about 2 years ago, gluten does not touch the cast iron as a household rule. Because the surface of cast iron is somewhat porous, the gluten eaters in the house are left to the stainless steel.

Here is one of my recent dinner creations using my 10 incher:

Crepes! I have recently discovered that the natural nonstick surface of cast iron is great for making these. This dinner was admittedly an experiment. (Don't worry, my family is used to that!) I was trying to see if a crepe could be used as a sandwich wrap. My son and I do not eat corn, and it is difficult to make a rice tortilla that is thin, soft and pliable, (I think so, anyways.) I had heard that crepes could be really good with a savory filling, and so that is what I tried out for this dinner. I made a sloppy-joe type filling; ground hamburger, tomato sauce, onion, and we wrapped it in the crepes with some shredded lettuce and tomato. It really was good. My only complaint is that the raw veggies were a bit much for the delicate crepe to handle, so next time I will have to rethink my approach and cook veggies in a different type of filling or have the veggies on the side.

This crepe recipe came from my local girls, Kristi and Betsy at www.eatingglutenfree.com.
*I changed the recipe for the purposes of and gluten free AND casein free diet, using earth balance instead of butter, and and combo of rice milk and water instead of cow milk.*

Simple (Allergen Free) Feasting

I hope that everyone is having an awesome holiday season! We had a very merry Christmas at our house. Eli had the most fun, of course! Even though it has been almost a week, I still wanted to share our simple Christmas meal on my blog. It has just been awhile since we had a holiday by ourselves, and so although it may seem silly, it was really fun for me to orchestrate the whole little meal by myself. The whole meal was gluten free, casein free, soy free, and nearly corn free as well.





We had on the menu, turkey of course, which you can see below the cheesy smiles in the first picture. The turkey was Norbest Tender Timed. Although not quite as preservative free as I would wish, it did say GLUTEN FREE. And by the way, the timer did not work, which I found kind of amusing. I put Earth Balance spread under the skin, as well as the juice from half a lemon, and a mix of spices including paprika, salt and pepper, and dried chopped onions. I meant to also use rosemary, but I forgot. The results really were surprisingly great.

Sides included green beans, carrot sticks, and green salad. Jason loves deviled eggs, so I made them as allergen-free as possible, using only Canola Mayo, (to avoid soy,) French's Mustard, salt and pepper. Eli, our son with autism, apparently hates deviled eggs, so I didn't have to worry about them bothering his system after all. The mashed potatoes had Earth Balance, Rice Dream rice milk, salt and pepper. Of course I made gravy from the turkey drippings, adding just alittle potato starch to thicken. Although Eli is sensitive to yeast, he did have 2 little pieces of his favorite "Sandwich Bread" from page 21 of Carol Fenster's "Cooking Free."

Dressings included Annie's All Natural Roasted Red Pepper salad dressing, Old Nauvoo homemade style red raspberry jam, and of course our favorite Earth Balance spread. We washed the whole thing down with Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider. Yum.

Eli had lots of fun with making cut out cookies later that evening with another recipe of Carol Fenster's, from page 239 of the same cookbook.

And tomorrow is a whole new year. The holidays pass way too quickly once they get here!!

Earth Balance Spread and Veganism

For awhile we were using ghee as part of our son's gluten free/casein free diet. Now we have found what we feel is an even better alternative. It is Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread. The cheapest place to pick this up in Utah County is Sunflower Farmer's Market. As compared to ghee, you get much more for your money.

*non-hydrogenated
*gluten/casein free
*varieties include a soy-free option
*completely vegan



I admit, the vegan aspect of this product is a big draw for me. According to The McDougall Plan, by John A. McDougall, M.D. and Mary A. McDougall, the higher you are on the food pyramid, the higher the amount of fat-soluable contaminants your food will contain. For example, the grains on the bottom of the pyramid will have the lowest amount of contaminants, while the breast feeding child on the top of the pyramid will have potentially the highest.

Concentrated contaminants can be avoided to a large degree by eating vegan. Another more current book on this subject that is very popular is called The China Study. I personally haven't read this one yet, but I plan to in the near future.

My family and I do not eat vegan, but since learning more about the health hazards and also the markets promoting meat and dairy products, meat has become much more sparse in our home. It is used once in a while for a flavoring, not as a main course. As for dairy, Eli does not eat dairy, and products like Earth Balance make limiting dairy so much easier for the rest of the family.

Praise for Another Book I'd Rather Not live Without

To keep a running total of my book list, the first was
Changing The Course of Autism, by Dr. Bryan Jepson.

Here is the number two book that I acquired and found very useful:


Life Tastes Good Again, by Kristi Kirkland and Betsy Thomas.

These women are actually locals to the place I was living when I found this book at my neighborhood natural food store. These women have family members with celiac disease. They not only have developed some great recipes, but they also give some practical tips on how to get started, where to try eating out, etc. Because the book is written for celiacs and not those with autism, you really do need to be on your guard for things like milk products. Many of the recipes do work well with non dairy substitutes. Rice or apple cider vinegar needs to be used when the ingredient is "vinegar." I have also substituted a smaller amount of honey for sugar in some of the recipes that are naturally sweetened with fruit with good results. My son loves the chicken nugget recipe that I changed slightly to meet his diet needs.

You can get this book or some of their recipes free here:
www.eatingglutenfree.com