Gluten-Free Egg Foo Young Recipe

I love egg foo young, but anytime I've tried to buy it in a Chinese food restaurant, it's got gluten in it. So here's my recipe for egg foo young, minus the gluten...

Ingredients for egg patty:
1 mushroom, chopped up into little pieces
1/4 celery stalk, chopped into little pieces
2 Tbsp. bean sprouts or cabbage
2 eggs
1 strip of bacon, sliced into tiny pieces (optional, if you want to go vegetarian, though it's not vegan)
1/4 tsp. minced ginger (dried is okay, but fresh is better)
1/2 tsp. Tamari sauce (GF soy sauce)
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients in a 2 cup mixing bowl. It's going to look like a lot of veggies and not very much egg, but that's okay. Set this mixture aside.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick fry pan, on medium heat. Important: don't get the burner too hot, as that will scorch one side of your egg patty.
3. Once warm, add egg mixture and cook with a lid over it until solid on the bottom.
4. Use a flat spatula to flip the egg mixture and cook it on the other side until light brown.

Serves 1

Next week I'll post the directions for the sauce that tastes so yummy on top!

The week after that, I'm planning to show you how to make your own bean sprouts. I just recently learned this in a nutrition class I took at our local junior college. It's quite easy (or so they tell me). So watch for that post.

Gluten-Free Sweet and Sour Sauce (GF)

I've been looking for a decent GF sweet and sour sauce recipe for a while, when I ran across this one through a fellow teacher. (Thank you Mrs. Howard!)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. corn starch
4 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp. soy sauce (we use Tamari sauce--other brands are not GF)
20 oz. can pineapple

Directions:
Drain syrup off of a 20 oz. can of chunk pineapple. Add water to syrup to make 1 cup liquid. add all other ingredients. Cook on medium-low heat until mixture thickens. Stir constantly to avoid sticking.

This can be used over barbecued chicken as a baster. You can drizzle it over friend meats and veggies to make a rice topper. Whatever you prefer.

Gluten-Free Chinese Food Recipes

Kids love to go out for Chinese food, but for gluten-free kids, this is always a challenge. Our nearest PF Chang's Restaurant is 100+ miles away from where we live. So I've had to learn how to cook Chinese food from scratch for my family. During the next month or so, I plan to share my recipes. Some are quite easy to make; others are a little harder.

I'm also going to show you how to grow your own bean sprouts, at the end of this month. Growing your own sprouts can be done indoors any time of the year, but right now, if your kids are home from school for the summer months, this little indoor gardening project will give them something to keep them occupied. Watch for that post at the end of July.

What makes Chinese food especially fun, though? It's those wonderful cardboard boxes. Here's a pattern for a Chinese food box, and I'm going to show step-by-step instructions, so your kids can make their own Chinese food boxes to put their Chinese food into:

1. Trace this pattern or print it onto card stock paper. (Incidentally, that pattern comes from this website, called Stay Beautiful. They show a more crafty use for the box pattern (less food-related).
2. Use a pair of scissors or craft knife to cut out the pattern and score along all of the dark lines.
3. Bend the side flaps outward, as you see in this image:

4. Staple side flaps to one another, like you see in this image:

5. Once all side flaps are stapled, it will probably be quite small, as you can see in this image, but it might hold a child-sized helping of Chinese food:

6. You can have your kids decorate their Chinese food boxes with Chinese lettering or put their names on their boxes, or color them with crayons. The whole business just makes eating Chinese food that much more fun!

And how cool would this be in someone's lunchbox? I'm always looking for fun ways to spice up my daughter's school lunches. This project is ideal!

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

Classic S'Mores Gluten-free Recipe

Everybody knows S'mores are the ticket to campfire fun. With the camping season upon us, I thought I'd let you know what my family does for S'mores.

The trick is to find a good substitute for traditional graham crackers. We use S'moreables from Kinnikinnick. Here's the recipe, for those of you who don't know how to make S'mores.

Ingredients:

1. marshmallows (we use Kraft, but other brands are GF too, just check labels)
2. S'moreables graham style crackers
3. Hershey's milk chocolate

Directions:

1. Break a S'moreable graham cracker in half at the "seam."
2. Break a Hershey bar into its rectangular pieces, also where you'll find a seam. Set two pieces of Hershey's milk chocolate candy bar on one piece of S'moreable graham cracker.
3. Toast one marshmallow on the end of a stick, by setting it near (but not too close to) the coals of a dwindling campfire. Children should be supervised for this, of course.
4. When the marshmallow is golden brown and chewy inside, set it between two even halves of a S'moreable graham style cracker. 
5. Wait until the Hershey's chocolate melts before eating.

Remember to put your campfires out! Smokey the Bear will appreciate it.

Next week I'll post a recipe for GF Hawaiian S'mores.

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.

Gluten Free Pizza Topings

Look, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm a working mom. I don't have time to bake a from-scratch GF pizza crust every time I want to make gluten-free pizza. I buy Udi's GF pizza crusts and keep them in my freezer until I'm ready for one of those dinners where you don't have to think very hard.

Here are the things I put on our pizzas, in various combinations:

• Ragu pizza sauce
• Hormel Canadian bacon
• Hormel pepperoni slices (look on the label; you'll see it says GF)
• canned pineapples
• canned sliced olives
• red onions
• tomatoes
• peppers
• yellow onions
• mushrooms
• mozzarella cheese

Now I'm dairy-free, so I have to make our pizza half mozzarella and half SoySations lactose-free and gluten-free cheese substitute. Be warned, though, dairy-free people: SoySations Mozzarella Shreds contain casein, so they're not truly dairy-free. I seem to do okay with it though.

I suppose you already knew all those veggies were GF, but I remember that it took me a while to learn which pizza meats and tomato sauces are GF. So I posted this easy-to-make GF pizza plan, in the hope that I might be able to help out those who are just starting out on the gluten-free diet.