Gluten-Free California Roll Recipes (Safe for School Lunches)

The tricky thing about sushi is this: how safe can it be, when you send it to school with your kiddo? I mean, you never know what a kid might do: forget to put the cold pack in her lunch, take stuff out for a quick snack during recess, etc... So can you really trust your kid with raw fish? Probably not.

So I make my California rolls with canned tuna. It's not a perfect alternative, but it's safer than raw fish. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Nori (flat seaweed sheets)
• sticky rice
• your child's favorite veggies (carrots, cabbage, zucchini), finely diced
• ginger, very finely diced
• scrambled egg leftovers
• Tamari sauce
• canned tuna, drained
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum

Directions:

1. Have all your ingredients close by, because once the sticky rice is on the Nori sheet, it softens the Nori sheet. The longer it takes you to make this, the softer the sheet gets. And when the Nori is really soft, it tears. So you want to work quickly.
2. Mix xanthan gum and water in a small dish and set aside.
3. If you have a bamboo mat, lay your Nori out on that, shiny-side down. If you don't have a bamboo mat, wax paper can work as a substitute.
4. Plop two heaping tablespoons full of sticky rice onto your Nori sheet. Spread the rice very thin, using the back of the tablespoon (a lot like spreading pizza sauce onto a pizza crust). You may need more rice than that. Keep adding rice until you have enough to cover the entire Nori sheet in a thin, 1/4 inch layer of rice.
5. One half inch from the edge of the Nori, spread veggies, egg, and tuna in a long strip. On the opposite edge of the Nori, brush the edge with the xanthan gum/water mixture.
6. Roll strip tightly (like rolling up a sleeping bag), starting at the veggie edge and working your way to the xanthan gum edge. Place the roll in the fridge for at least an hour. (You want the sticky xanthan gum/water mixture to solidify, so that may take longer if your fridge has a higher humidity.)
7. With a very sharp knife, slice the roll into 1-inch cakes. Sprinkle tops of cakes with Tamari sauce.

Gluten-free Breakfast on the Go!

The Domestic Geek made this wonderful video, showing us all how to make spinach and tomato frittatas, potato roasties, and almond breakfast bites. Each of these is made in a muffin tin, so they're handy to take with you in the morning. Thanks for this great video, Domestic Geek!

Ideas for Gluten-Free Lunch Boxes for Back-to-School

Ideas for Gluten-Free Lunch Boxes for Back-to-School

School is about to get underway again. We parents of kids with celiac disease struggle, every year, brainstorming new things to put in our kids' lunchboxes. There's only so many times a kid can eat a PB & J with Fritos before they lose their minds!

So this is my list of the many great things you can put in your kid's lunchbox. They're all GF, and many of them are things a working mom can just purchase at a grocery store, so you're not spending a half hour every morning, rushing to get that lunch made:

• Glutino toaster pastries
• guacamole dip and chips
• cold gluten-free pizza
• stuff for making mini-pizzas on a GF cracker (Lunchables style)
• home-made GF lunchables (my daughter's favorite)
• GF stick day (GF pretzel sticks, cheese sticks, and pepperoni sticks)
• GF chips and salsa with bean dip
• cookie-cutter mini sandwiches
• bag of GF cereal
• Udi's muffins
• Udi's cinnamon rolls
• Yoplait yogurts (read labels) or Go-Gurts 
• Del Monte fruit cups/jello fruit cups
• plain Jell-o cups
• pudding cups (read labels)
• carrot sticks
• celery sticks
• peanut butter celery sticks
• cream cheese celery sticks (read labels on the cream cheese)
• thermos of soup (see my "soups" recipes for ideas)
• S'moreables graham crackers

• Quaker GF rice cakes
• Glutino breadsticks
• Glutino bagel chips (YUM!)
• GF fruit chew snacks (read labels)
• fresh fruit
• Easy Cheese (but the bacon one has gluten)
• Fritos
• Lays Stax
• cottage cheese
• cheese sticks
• Old Wisconsin beef sticks
• Old Wisconsin summer sausage (check for GF label)
• Hormel Canadian bacon
• Hormel pepperoni slices
• K-Toos (Oreo-style cookies)
• boiled eggs
• deviled eggs
• egg salad with GF crackers to spread it on
• Cheetos
• Juicy-Juice
• Shasta sodas
• raisins
• yogurt-covered raisins
• home-made trail mix (find my recipe on this site under "lunches")
• EnviroKids rice "granola" bars
• Fruity Pebble Treats (now available in stores, always check labels)
• Popcorn
• Popcorn balls made with Kraft marshmallows
• Kraft colored mini-marshmallows
• PB&J made on Glutino crackers
• Jell-o Knox blocks 
• apple slices
• Glutino pretzels or EnerG pretzels
• California roll (sushi nori) home-made with tuna instead of raw meat (for safety)
• beef strips cut from leftover pot roast (send them some BBQ sauce for dipping)
• cold quesadilla on GF tortillas 

I post recipes for some of this stuff on this site, so follow me, and you'll get a new recipe once a month. My specialty is the lunchbox-stuffer, but I sometimes offer recipes for other meals and desserts as well.

Happy lunch-boxing!

Mrs. Kaiser's Healthy Gluten-Free (GF) Breakfast Muffin Recipe

I used to work with a school psychologist, Mrs. Kaiser, who recently went gluten-free. When we ran into each other at the supermarket the other day, she gave me this recipe, which sounds super healthy and yummy!

Ingredients:
2 cups almond meal
2 cups flax seed meal
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 cup or more of unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted....or other oil or butter
8 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1 T chia seeds

Directions:
Mix the preceding ingredients. Then add 1 cup of Craisins, 1 cup of coconut, and 1 cup of dried blueberries. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Mrs. Kaiser suggested that you store a dozen of them in the freezer while eating a dozen during the week. They make a very healthy breakfast!

I can't wait to try them!

Yummy Gluten-free Mango Salsa Recipe

Ingredients:

4-5 mangoes (firm, not quite ripe)

4 Serrano peppers (more or less depending on how spicy you want it

1 Jalapeno

10 cloves of garlic

6-7 firm avocados

10 firm roma tomatoes 

1 cup chopped cilantro 

2 limes squeezed throughout

1 tsp of olive oil

1/2 of a red onion

Dash of salt

Chop mangoes up first in medium sized chunks, then add the diced red onion and squeeze half a lime over it. Let this marinate for an hour.  Dice the tomatoes, add chopped cilantro/peppers/garlic to the tomatoes.  Squeeze half of lime over and let marinate for an hour as well.  Halve the avocados right before you are ready to serve it, and cut them up in cubes.  Pour the olive oil and squeeze a half of lime over avocados before adding the other two bowls.  Finally combine three bowls, lightly mix it all together and squeeze another half of lime over entire dish. Lastly add salt as needed. 

What to Serve at Your Gluten-Free and Diary-Free Tea Party

Summer's here, and little girls are going to want to have a tea party outside, with friends. But what can you offer little girls who are used to eating gluten? You need to offer them something they won't turn their noses up at.

If you want to bake something, I suggest getting a miniature muffin tin and using Pamela's gluten-free vanilla cake mix and Pamela's GF chocolate cake mix to bake some cupcakes everyone can frost. You can also buy miniature bundt cake pans, which make adorable little bundt cakes. We did this at my daughter's 10th birthday party, and it was a big hit. (See pictures.)

We bought Betty Crocker's GF white frosting (check labels), but be aware that this stuff isn't usually dairy-free too. So if you have a dairy-free person in your household, I recommend using powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar), Earth Balance spread, and soy milk to make your own frosting. Also check to make sure your food colorings are gluten- and dairy-free.

Candy sprinkles are usually safe, but it's always a good idea to check those labels too.

We also included marshmallows, GF hot chocolate (but that's not dairy-free, usually), strawberry guava juice, lemonade, and K-Toos GF and DF cookies on our tea party menu.

I had the girls frost the cupcakes and bundt cakes, so they had a lot of fun with that (although expect a mess). By frosting the cupcakes themselves, each person at the tea party takes pride in what they've made. You'll have fewer problems with non-gluten-free eaters turning their noses up at a cupcake they frosted themselves.

A Thanksgiving Dessert Recipe That's Gluten-free and Dairy-free: Pumpkin Bars!

This is actually a re-post, because my family loves my pumpkin bars as much as (if not more than) my pumpkin pie. And since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I figured it's time to post our favorite Thanksgiving GF and DF dessert... Pumpkin bars!

Ingredients:
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup pumpkin
½ cup vegetable oil
1/6 cup water
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup flour (I used super fluffy GF flour mix—see recipe in the margin)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon each: ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon

Gluten-Free Bar Directions:
Beat egg and add other wet ingredients and mix well. Add dry ingredients. Bake at 350 F (175 degrees C) in a glass 9” x 13” pan about 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Bars will be slightly browned, very thin, and moist. Let cool before frosting. (If you're not worried about dairy, you can use Betty Crocker's gluten-free vanilla frosting. It says "gluten-free" on the back of the package.)

Special Tip:

I have made these with canned pumpkin, and they turned out just fine. But honestly, the very best ones we've ever made, were made with our own home-grown pumpkins (not the jack-o-lantern kind, but the sweeter garden pumpkins). To make your own pumpkin mush, just cut the pumpkins in half, clean out all the stringy stuff and seeds, and bake upside down (skin up) in a casserole dish or on a cookie sheet. You'll know they're done baking when they turn soft, just like with any other baked squash. You scrape out their meat, drain off some of the moisture, make sure you get all the stringy-strings out of the pulp, and measure it out.

More Gluten-free Lunchbox Ideas for Kids

School is about to get underway again. We parents of kids with celiac disease struggle, every year, brainstorming new things to put in our kids' lunchbox. There's only so many times a kid can eat a PB & J with Fritos before they lose their minds!

So this is my list of the many great things you can put in your kid's lunchbox. They're all GF, and many of them are things a working mom can just purchase at a grocery store, so you're not spending a half hour every morning, rushing to get that lunch made:

beef strips cut from leftover pot roast (send them some BBQ sauce for dipping)

California roll (sushi nori) home-made with tuna instead of raw meat (for safety)

cream cheese celery sticks (read labels on the cream cheese)
Easy Cheese (but the bacon one has gluten)
Fritos
Lays Stax
cottage cheese
cheese sticks
Old Wisconsin beef sticks
Old Wisconsin summer sausage (check for GF label)
Hormel Canadian bacon
Hormel pepperoni slices
K-Toos (Oreo-style cookies)
boiled eggs
deviled eggs
egg salad with GF crackers to spread it on
Cheetos
Juicy-Juice
Shasta sodas
raisins
yogurt-covered raisins
home-made trail mix (find my recipe on this site under "lunches")
EnviroKids rice "granola" bars
bag of GF cereal
Fruity Pebble/Cocoa Pebble Treats (now available in stores)
Popcorn
Popcorn balls made with Kraft marshmellows
Kraft colored mini-marshmellows
PB&J made on Glutino crackers
Jell-o Knox blocks 
apple slices
Glutino pretzels or EnerG pretzels

fresh fruit

GF fruit chew snacks (read labels)

Glutino bagel chips (YUM!)

Glutino breadsticks

Quaker GF rice cakes

S'moreables graham crackers

thermos of soup (see my "soups" recipes for ideas)

Udi's cinnamon rolls
Yoplait yogurts (read labels) or Go-Gurts 
Del Monte fruit cups/jello fruit cups
plain Jell-o cups
pudding cups (read labels)
carrot sticks
celery sticks
peanut butter celery sticks

Udi's muffins

I post recipes for some of this stuff on this site, so follow me, and you'll get a new recipe once a month. My specialty is the lunchbox-stuffer, but I sometimes offer recipes for other meals and desserts as well.

Happy lunch-boxing!

Holiday Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Rice Krispie Treats

Please note that I do not use regular Rice Krispies, because I'm told there's a cross-contamination problem at the factory. If that changes, somebody let me know. But honestly, my daughter Annie is so sensitive, even the slightest bit of gluten makes her really sick.

So we use Nature's Path Crispy Rice, a whole grain brown rice cereal, for our Rice Krispies.

It's also a good idea to check the label on your marshmallows, as well as the food coloring you use. Currently we use Kraft marshmallows and Betty Crocker food coloring, but that may change. I just keep an eye on labels to make sure we're staying GF.

The "margarine" I use for this is Earth Balance natural shortening. It comes in cubes as well as a margarine tub, but I use the cubes for my recipe.

We made these Rice Krispie treats for the 4th of July this year, but you can change the colors to red and green for Christmas, pastel colors for Easter, etc... And here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of regular GF marshmallows--divide them into equal thirds
• 1/2 cube of GF/DF margarine--divide it in thirds
• extra margerine for greasing the bottom and sides of a 9x9-inch pan or casserole dish
• 1 box of GF crisp rice cereal of your choice
• food coloring

Directions:

1. Follow the directions on the back of a package of Kraft regular-sized marshmallows, except divide the DF margarine and marshmallows equally into three bowls. Add red food coloring to one bowl, blue food coloring to another bowl, and for the third bowl, leave it the regular white color that marshmallows normally have.

2. After cooking one batch of marshmallows (say, the blue batch for example) in the microwave as directed, mix in one third of your crisp rice cereal. Then have a greased pan ready to fold in your blue marshmallow/crispy mixture (i.e. have it pre-greased when the marshmallows come out of the microwave). Flatten and spread the mixture all across the bottom of the pan (I use well-greased fingers to do this).

3. Do the same with each color. On the bottom, layer the blue Rice Krispies; next layer the white Rice Krispies; on top, layer the red Rice Krispies.

4. Once cool, cut the Rice Krispies into two-inch cubes, and your patriotic layering will then become visible. You may wish to poke a toothpick down inside each one, with a US flag design on it for the Fourth of July. (Or a Santa toothpick for Christmas, or a shamrock for St. Patrick's Day--whatever.)

5. Put the Rice Krispy squares on a holiday-designed paper plate (or one you buy at the dollar store) and cover it with Saran Wrap or cellophane to keep your treats from drying out.

Yum! Everyone loves Rice Krispies!

GF and Dairy-Free Hawaiian Smores

Sorry it took so long to get this one posted. My intentions were good, but I've been busy. Anyway, the pictures are of the Hawaiian s'mores my family made while camping. And hey, I'm posting this just in time for fourth of July grilling...

Ingredients:
4 bananas
1 bag of carob chips (or chocolate chips, if your family has no problem with milk)
1 bag of mini marshmallows
aluminum foil

The instructions are at the bottom of the page, because I couldn't figure out how to make the images set evenly with the instructions. Sorry!

Instructions:
1. Do not peel the banana. Leave it inside the peel for the most part, peeling back only a small section of the banana peel (see first picture).
2. Where the banana's insides are exposed (where you've lifted back one slice of banana peel), cut the banana right down the middle.
3. Stuff the banana with a carob chip at the tip, followed by a marshmallow, then another carob chip, then another marshmallow, and so on, until the banana is stuffed with chips and marshmallows. (See the second picture.) If you're using chocolate chips, just substitute the carob chips in this step for chocolate chips.
4. Replace the strip of banana peel that you peeled back, so that the banana looks sort of chubby but back to its old self.
5. Wrap the banana in aluminum foil.
6. Set the banana in hot coals, like in a fireplace or campfire (see third picture). I suppose you could cook it on the barbecue or in an oven.
7. Check the banana after a few minutes to see if the carob chips and marshmallows have melted. If not, put it back in the hot coals. If so, take it out! It's ready to eat! Carob chips take longer to melt than chocolate chips, I've noticed, so cook times vary according to ingredients and the heat from the fire.

Serves 4

Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free "Jamba Juice" or Fruit Smoothie Recipe Kids Will Love

Image: iClipart

Yesterday I wanted to take my kids to Jamba Juice, and you'll never guess what they said. "No thanks. We like your smoothies better." Can you believe that? Crazy, huh?

So here's what I put in my fruit smoothies:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup fruit juice
3/4 cup frozen fruit of your choice
3/4 cup gluten-free, dairy-free yogurt
1 tbsp. granola

DIRECTIONS:
1. Put the fruit juice in the bottom of your blender. It's important to put this in first, as it helps crush the fruit if you go with juice at the bottom.
2. Plop the frozen fruit in next. If you're adding a banana, this is the time to include it.
3. Mix the juice and fruit together on medium-to-high speed in a blender, until they're no longer lumpy. If you need to add more juice, do so. You want it to be about the consistency of creamy potato soup or thin gravy before adding the yogurt.
4. Stop the blender to check for lumps. You can check for lumps by dipping a long spoon into the blender. If you find lumps, put the lid back on your blender and mix some more. I usually mix for about 50-60 seconds, but some blenders take longer, some take less time.
5. Once you've got a creamy mixture of juice and fruit, add the yogurt, put the lid back on it, and mix again. As before, if it's too thick, add a little more juice. You don't want your blender to short out because it's trying to mix something that's just too thick. But the final product needs to be about as thick as a milkshake (maybe not quite that thick).
6. Garnish with the granola on top.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Fruit Juices

• Lemonade is my favorite fruit juice to use in smoothies, because it adds a tangy flavor.
• My kids love strawberry-guava juice in their smoothies, because it's sweet.
• My husband prefers apple juice in his smoothie, because it is sort of neutral and allows you to absorb the flavor of the fruit.

Frozen Fruits

• Strawberries taste good in smoothies, but they don't crush easily.
• It's easy to find a "smoothie blend" of frozen fruits, which usually includes mango and pineapple.
• Mango by itself is one of my favorite smoothie flavors, because it crushes easily and tastes delicious in a smoothie.
• Add banana to any flavor of smoothie. It thickens the fluid, though, so reduce the other solid ingredients by a little bit, if you're planning to add banana.
• Too many blackberries in a smoothie can make it have a gritty, seedy texture. So it's best to mix blackberries with other kinds of berries, like blueberries and strawberries.

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Yogurts

• My favorite gluten-free, dairy-free yogurt is Whole Soy & Company plain. I don't use the unsweetened, because my kids don't like it as much; but if I were making smoothies for myself, I'd go with the unsweetened because it's healthier. And really, there's plenty of sugar in the fruit.
• If you can't have soy, there are other brands of dairy-free yogurts made from coconut or almond.
• It's also possible to use flavored yogurts, not just plain yogurt. Strawberry yogurt goes great in both a strawberry smoothie and many other flavors of smoothie. For a tangy smoothie, use lemon or lime-flavored yogurts.

Granola

• EnjoyLife is my new favorite brand of granola. Their strawberry mix goes great on top of smoothies! YUM!
• Other celiacs have told me they don't trust Quaker's granola or oats. It's got cross-contamination issues at the factory.
• It's possible to make your own granola, or just top your smoothie with Bob's Redmill's certified GF oats.
• Another of my favorite brands of GF granola is made by Bakery on Main, but some of their granolas have nuts in them and I'm allergic to some nuts.

GF Quesadilla Recipe and Variations

One of my daughter's favorite gluten-free lunches is a simple quesadilla, made from Don Pancho's gluten-free wraps and simple cheddar cheese.

For anyone who doesn't know what a quesadilla is, it's a Mexican form of a toasted cheese sandwich. Instead of using bread, most folks use flour tortillas. We must eat gluten-free, however, so we use Don Pancho's gluten-free wraps for our quesadilla's "bread". Slice some cheese, slap it in-between two GF wraps, fry the whole thing in hot oil in a skillet, and voila! You've got quesadilla.

There are some yummy variations on quesadillas though, and I think I should mention these:

• melted cheddar cheese and refried beans inside the quesadilla
• melted pepper jack cheese and avocado in your quesadilla
• chicken, cilantro, peppers, and cheese quesadilla (see picture)
• a quesadilla with jalepeno peppers melted into the cheese (not for the wee little tykes)
• plain old cheese quesadilla dipped in guacamole and/or sour cream and/or salsa
• melted cheese blended with left-over hamburger in your quesadilla
• and my favorite: a combination of some of the above... cheese, hamburger, cilantro, beans, and guacamole quesadilla

Can you think of yummy quesadilla variations that I didn't mention here? Your comments are welcome.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Recently a fellow GF-mom asked me for my GF chocolate chip cookie recipe. (How flattering, right?) Well this is my favorite one. It was given to me by a good friend. I don't know if she ran across it online or saw it in a magazine or what, but she wrote it down on a 3x5 card and handed it to me--and I'm SO glad she did, because we love it!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 box Jell-o vanilla instant pudding mix (don't add anything to it--just the powdery stuff is what you want)
1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch four
12 oz. bag of GF chocolate chips
pecans or walnuts, if you like

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Leave your butter or margarine out until soft. Mix butter or margarine with sugar and vanilla pudding mix. Add eggs. Mix flours separately. Then add the flours to the wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly with a stand mixer. Hand-stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded teaspoon-fuls onto a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes.

As with all GF cookies, let them sit for a while before you remove them from the cookie sheet, because otherwise they'll crumble. Most GF cookies are fragile when they're warm. It has something to do with the nature of rice flour, I think.

Gluten-Free Gorp (Trail Mix) Recipe: a Great After-School Snack!

Sometimes they call it GORP--which is probably an acronym for something, but I don't have the foggiest idea what it stands for. (If you know, please leave a comment to that effect. Thanks!) Anyway, it's a great after-school snack, and it's super easy to make:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Rice Chex cereal
1 cup Corn Chex cereal
1 cup GF pretzels (Glutino are our favorites)
1/2 cup M&M's
1/2 cup peanuts (without the shell--and as always, check labels)
1/2 cup cashews (same thing)
1/2 cup dates (same)
1/2 cup raisins (same)
1/2 cup banana chips (same)
1 small pkg. Corn Nuts

DIRECTIONS:
Simple... Mix it all up and store it in a monster-sized Tupperware or cookie jar. Kids can scoop a bunch into a bowl after school and snack on healthy goodies. My kids love this kind of stuff as an after school snack. It's also great in school lunches.

One tip though: keep it sealed tight. If your cookie jar's lid doesn't screw on tightly, use a Tupperware or Rubbermaid storage container that seals well. This stuff spoils easily if it's left open to the air.