Rachel’s Recipe Box

This is a great and easy (and cheap!) way to make chicken broth while avoiding your dietary restrictions. Feel free to adapt ingredients as needed.

Ingredients:

• leftover chicken bones from other meals

• vegetables - onion, garlic, celery, carrot
• 2 bay leaves, any other desired spices
• 1 tbs cider vinegar (or another vinegar)
• kombu seaweed (optional) or a couple pinches of kosher salt
• water

Fill crock pot with chicken bones, veggies, bay leaves, vinegar, and seaweed (if using). Pour water in until the crock pot is full.

Cover the crock pot and turn to low. Let simmer for 1-2 days. The vinegar will pull the minerals from the bones, and you will end up with a dark, rich broth.

Strain, then refrigerate or freeze for later use. Freezing in muffin tins or ice cube trays works well - then pop them out and keep in a large ziploc bag in the freezer until needed.

Don’t forget to save your chicken bones from your meals for your next batch of broth!

Our family lives with Celiac Disease. This auto-immune disease means that our family cannot eat foods with wheat, rye, oats, or barley. In our house, this means that we eat a lot of home-made treats using my recipes.

There aren’t a lot of books about kids with Celiac Disease, but the ones we have seen talk a lot about what the kids can’t have, whereas my kids think that you can eat anything with Celiac Disease, you just have to be patient for Mom to make it. The picture book Bagels, Buddy, and Me tells the story of a boy with Celiac Disease, but with a focus on the positive. It also talks about the family changing their diet, not making special meals for one person - this book showed something very similar to our lives in a book!

Read the full review

adapted from my mother’s friend’s award-winning crust recipe.

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, could be egg free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, corn free, top 8 allergen free, vegetarian, and potentially vegan recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups shortening (I use Spectrum)

• 1/2 cup margarine (I use Fleishmann’s unsalted, but you could also use 1/2 cup chilled shortening)
• 6 cups gf flour mix (I liked amaranth, pea, and arrowroot in equal portions

• 2 TBS xanthan gum (if not GF, just use 6 cups flour and omit this)
• 1 TBS baking powder (optional, this is my addition)
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 TBS salt
• 1 large egg (or egg replacer of your choice)
• 2 TBS cider vinegar
• Cold water

Method
Combine flours, xanthan gum, baking powder (if using), sugar, & salt in a large bowl. Add shortening & margarine and cut in using a pastry blender or 2 knives until it begins to resemble coarse meal.

In a measuring cup with a spout, beat the egg, vinegar, and enough water to equal 1 cup. Gradually add the liquid to the flour, tossing with a fork, until the pastry gathers into a mass.

Divide the pastry into 6 portions and form each into a patty-like disk. Each patty makes 1 crust. Put each in a small ziploc and freeze, or, if you are using now, chill for an hour or so. If you freeze, dough must be completely thawed before rolling. (If you plan to make pocket pies, just refrigerate it all in a lump and break off pieces to make the pocket pies)

For easier handling, roll out between two sheets of plastic wrap.

This makes 6 single pie crusts, or top/bottom pie crusts for 20-25 pocket pies.

FYI - this week is Food Allergy Week! Check out the information from FAAN and the Check my Tag Community.

I have written up Our Story of food allergies, food sensitivities, and celiac disease. I hope having it written down helps someone! (and that I haven’t forgotten too many things) Enjoy your allergy-safe, delicious food this week!

You might want to check out this book review - there’s a great book called The Peanut-free Cafe, which would be a good read this week!

Quick tip -

When a recipe calls for couscous or barley, a great substitute (with even more nutritional oomph) is quinoa.

It’s also incredibly easy - rinse 1 part quinoa in a few changes of water. Add 2 parts stock or water and bring to a boil. Let simmer 15-20 minutes, until water is absorbed.

If you want to avoid the rinsing, some stores carry the red quinoa that cooks up pink (what girl doesn’t want to eat pink food?) and doesn’t require rinsing.

My kids have loved it since early toddlerhood. It makes a great mess with babies too.

I’m writing a series on Celiac disease/food allergies/food intolerances over at BostonNow. Much of what I have written is things I’ve said in many different ways here, but the articles might be helpful for some of my readers.

Starting to eat a Restricted Diet - Part 1 in a series Is tasty food too much to ask?

There has been a rise in awareness and diagnosis of Celiac Disease (an auto-immune disease that requires a diet free of gluten- the protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and oats), as well as a rise in awareness and diagnosis of food allergies and food sensitivities. There are also many families who choose a gluten-free/casein free or gfcf (no gluten, no milk) diet to help treat Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Combine all those groups, and you have a large population looking for food that is free of various ingredients. Many of those people are also looking for food that tastes good, too! Read More …

I don’t have time to cook! Tips for healthy eating with food allergies
Part 2 in an ongoing series

In part one, we talked about making food that is safe for restricted diets taste good. What can you do if you’re on a restricted diet due to Celiac Disease, food allergies, or food sensitivities and you (sadly) don’t have a significant other who is home all day to cook for you, nor are you home all day. You don’t like eating out all the time, because as much as restaurants try to get things right, they can make mistakes, and then you get sick. What’s the solution?

I am the significant other at home all day (ostensibly) cooking, but I have chronic pain, I’m homeschooling 3 young children, and we also have several other activities in our life besides cooking! I’ve assembled a few tips and tricks that have worked for us - eating food that is safe for you and won’t make you sick, while still continuing your busy life. Read More …

Almost any vegetable seems to taste better roasted. This winter we have roasted green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, parsnips, leeks, broccoli, and of course, our favorite brussels sprouts. This is an easy way to add veggies to a dinner when you are already using the oven.

First tip: preheat oven to 400+ (temp can vary a bit depending on the other things you are cooking. Toss the veggies in olive oil and sprinkle a little kosher salt over the top. You can add some minced garlic or not, depending on time available & your taste. Roast for about 20 minutes, shaking a couple times.

Second tip: Try this with frozen veggies - it works great with frozen green beans, and then you don’t have to take the ends off! It really makes frozen veggies taste less like frozen veggies, too!

Third tip: Make more than you think you’ll need. I’m amazed at how fast the kids eat the roasted veggies, they’re sweeter somehow. mmmm… And you can tell them the beets are candy!

Fourth tip: Try to roast vegetables the kids (or other adults) haven’t liked served other ways. Almost everyone who says they “hate brussels sprouts” has made an exception for my roasted brussels sprouts

When I make Carrot Cake or Eggless Carrot Cake, it deserves a cream cheese frosting. This is close, and doesn’t have the aftertaste I get with commercial dairy-free cream cheese. It can also be soy free.

• 1 stick margarine, softened (or 1/2 cup Spectrum shortening)
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 TBS milk sub (or water)
• 1 TBS lemon juice

Beat margarine in stand mixer. Add lemon juice.

Alternate 1c powdered sugar with 1 TBS milk sub until the desired taste/consistency is reached.

Frost like any buttercream-ish frosting

I love candied nuts. Unfortunately, most commercial candied nuts contain wheat starch for some unknown reason. I am sure there are dozens of recipes out there for candied nuts, but this is one I just threw together when my sweet tooth and almost-empty cupboard collided. They are fabulous as a snack, over canned peaches, and over ice cream.

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, fish free, shellfish free, corn free, and vegetarian/vegan recipe.

Images will be up later today!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oil or margarine (half a stick)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups walnut pieces (or other nut that you can tolerate. You could use larger seeds, such as pepitas, if you cannot tolerate nuts)

Method:
Melt the butter over medium heat in a small to medium sized non-stick skillet.

When the butter is melted, add the brown sugar, and stir with a spatula (a silicone one is best, as this will get hot). Add the cinnamon and salt, and keep stirring.

Watch the mixture, and stir intermittently as it heats up. In a few minutes it will melt and begin to bubble. Watch out - this mixture is hot, and can burn you if you aren’t careful. (burns from candy hurt a LOT, as the candy sticks to the skin. OUCH!)

Add the nuts, and stir carefully. Keep the heat at medium, and stir intermittently, gently combining the candy mixture with the nuts. Cook for about another 5 minutes, still stirring and mixing.

While the candied nuts are cooking, prepare a cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper or a Silpat Silicone Baking Mat. Pour the candied walnuts onto the parchment/silpat, and make sure they are scattered and separated over the sheet - if they clump, you’ll have a big lump of praline, which is yummy, but not easily scattered!

Let cool, and then eat. If you have some will power, you can keep them in an airtight jar or container, or in a zip-top bag for easy snacking. yum.

This is the basis for so many dishes - it can act like melted cheese on lasagna, an alfredo sauce, the basis for a sour-cream stroganoff, or any dairy-free alternative for a cream-of soup. This entry is linked innumerable times, and its uses are really only limited by your imagination!

You will note that this is made using coconut milk. If needed, it could be made using any other milk substitute, but the texture is best with coconut milk. It does not taste like coconut - for some reason savory dishes using coconut milk have no residual coconut flavor. Many, many people have eaten dishes that include this recipe, including people who profess to dislike anything coconut, and none of them ever guessed!

This is a delicious gfcf, gluten free, family-friendly recipe! It is also (if you double check ingredients!) a wheat free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, tree nut free, peanut free, fish free, shellfish free, corn free, top 8 allergen free, and vegetarian/vegan recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 14 oz can coconut milk

• 3 TBS margarine or cooking oil
• 3-4 TBS arrowroot, corn, or tapioca starch
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• additional seasonings as desired - we like Italian seasoning, Herbes de Provence, or Tony Chacheres Cajun seasoning
• 1 small onion, a few mushrooms, 1 stalk celery, or other desired vegetable, minced
• 1/4 cup white wine, broth, or other liquid

Method:
Melt margarine or heat oil over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add minced garlic (and any other vegetable you need - ie: mushrooms for cream-of-mushroom soup substitute), and sauté until tender.

Mix 3 TBS starch into the saucepan, it should become a thick paste. If it’s runny, add a bit more starch until it’s thick.

Whisk in the white wine, broth, or other liquid. Continue whisking, and pour in the coconut milk.

While whisking the sauce, add salt and any spices. Continue whisking over medium heat, as the mixture comes to a low boil and thickens.

Once the sauce thickens, use in any recipe as directed.