Tomato Mozzarella Salad

Tomato Mozzarella Salad is simple but satisfying, especially when paired with a nice baguette. This salad has many variations, but on the day I made this version, I kept it very simple. I cubed the cheese, diced the vine-ripened tomatoes, tore some fresh basil and tossed all these together with a little bit of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper. I served this with slices of Against the Grain gluten free baguette, which I purchase regularly from Earth Fare. This could be served as an appetizer, in which case you can top toasted slices of bread with the mixture- bruscetta style. Another variation would be to skip the vinegar and oil, cut the bread into larger pieces, slice open, top with the mixture and melt in the broiler for a couple of minutes...delicious!

Dressed Up Turkey Burger

 Turkey burgers are a favorite of mine. My kids won't eat them, but if I dress it up like this, my husband will eat it, so I consider that a small victory. This is great for lunch when I have the time, because it is full of healthy ingredients that keep my energy up so I can make it through the afternoon with extra pep in my step! I take a gluten free turkey burger and cook it on the stovetop in a frying pan, with a little olive oil spray. I top it with yogurt cheese, sliced red onion, avocado slices, and baby spinach leaves that have been tossed in my "go-to" homemade salad dressing. (Mix water, lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, & fresh pepper to taste. Toss the leaves in it a few times and top off your burger with more flavor). I put this sandwich together with a gluten free bun from Gillian's, although most of the time I eat it with no bun. I like to make grilled zucchini on the side- sauteed with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders. If you make turkey burgers for dinner it is also a great time for homemade sweet potato fries, but we'll talk about that in another post.

Enjoy! Check back over the weekend for some more meal and dessert ideas!

Muffin Mania- 2nd Edition- Blueberry Corn Muffins

Blueberry muffins are a staple...but this kicks it up a notch from ordinary to amazing. Take Pamela's Cornbread & Muffin Mix (available at Earth Fare, or other health food stores & online) and add 2 eggs, 3/4 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup fat free (or regular) half and half,  1/2 cup sugar (or sub some of the sugar with Agave), a generous sprinkle of brown sugar, 8 TBSP melted butter or oil of your choice, and a generous amount of frozen blueberries. Stir gently, fill muffin cups, bake at 375* for about 18 minutes or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean (or just blue from berries). Yum! Play with this recipe- these muffins happened sort of by accident- I was trying to emulate a blueberry cornbread I once had so I was playing with ingredients. I was actually surprised this came out so good! I know everyone says baking is a science and it takes precise measurements to come out with a successful baked good but I have found more often than not when I play around with ingredients I am pleasantly surprised but the outcomes. Just remember to keep the ratios of wet to dry ingredients in tact while experimenting. This mix has a lot of wonderful variations to try out right there on the bag. I want to try the corn kernel cornbread and the green chili cheese cornbread...I'll let you know how they are when I do!

Another quick muffin idea! Try making a pumpkin bread muffin with chocolate chips...I made a batch of pumpkin bread last fall and called it "Autumn Bread." My kids ate it and loved it and they had no idea they were consuming a vegetable. I often try to add pumpkin & sweet potato purees or butternut squash to muffins, cookies, cakes/breads, even pancakes. Sometimes it works, sometimes is doesn't but I figure it is always worth a try to get more veggies in our kids. Adding cinnamon, chocolate chips, or brown sugar usually disguises any veggie taste from my kids discerning palates.

Check back here tomorrow...I've got another great gluten-free meal idea cooking up!

Muffin Mania

I love muffins...LOVE them. Though old-school muffins are glorified cupcakes sans the icing, more and more people are desiring real food and so muffins can now be delicious indulgences that are packed with healthful nutrients. I especially love muffins because I can hide all sorts of good-for-you ingredients inside of them and get them into my kids tummies with them none the wiser- our little secret! Going gluten free cannot mean going muffin-less. So, here are some yummy suggestions to keep those muffins coming!

Glutino makes a boxed mix that I adore-Gluten Free Pantry muffin and scone mix. I love using this because it is delicious and it makes it simple to creatively add whatever you desire with less measuring and figuring out how to get the texture just right. The recipe on the back of the box is a great starting point, and good as is, but don't stop there! I love to substitute almond milk for the regular kind, use less eggs and replace with some apple sauce, sometimes I replace some of the butter with mashed banana or with some healthier fat- maybe try coconut oil or anything you prefer. I have made delicious banana muffins with this mix, mixed berries with flax and I plan to try a banana-walnut chocolate chip muffin soon. For my family's very favorite muffins I use this mix as a base, then I substitute almond milk, add extra vanilla extract, ground flax seeds, frozen strawberries and raspberries and almond meal. Somehow, it tastes amazing and no one had a clue about all of the goodies I hid inside. Once while making these I realized I did not have enough butter, so I simply added some heavy cream (I know, NOT so healthy) in its place and it came out perfect!

                                                     Strawberry Almond G-Free Muffins

Another Favorite around here are my Blueberry Corn Muffins...really good and very easy. Check back tomorrow- I will share a picture of them along with my favorite ingredients and tips on how to make them!

Delicious Pasta Idea!

Here is a delicious idea for a gluten free pasta meal. My family loves Ancient Harvest Corn and Quinoa Pasta...it is gluten-free and full of fiber and nutrients. I love the taste and texture of this pasta. When I am making a carb-based dish I always like to add in veggies to boost fiber and vitamins, and some sort of protein (meat or dairy). In this case, I used baby broccoli and cheese. I tossed pasta with a little olive oil, a pat of Earth Balance dairy free spread, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. I then mixed in some of our favorite marinara sauce, and topped it off with some grated fresh parmesan and some shredded mozzerella. I added the baby broccoli to the top...this was so good! 1 cup of pasta (1 serving) became a more fulfilling and healthful meal by adding cheese (protein) and broccoli (veggie). (You can try any combos to make a gluten free pasta become a heartier and more satisfying meal. Try chicken and peas, or tofu and mushrooms.) The broccoli was sauteed while my pasta water heated to a boil. I used a small pan, sprayed a little olive oil, and used sea salt, fresh pepper, garlic powder and onion to give the broccoli more flavor and to make it blend well with the sauce on the pasta.

I will continue to share ideas and pictures of gluten free meals and snacks our family enjoys. Occasionally I will write out an actual recipe, but I rarely follow recipes, so I will more often suggest ingredients and tell you the basics of how I prepared something. I think cooking is more fun when there is freedom to be creative and toss in what you like!

Our Gluten Free Beginnings

Welcome to "G-Free Joy!" I am so glad you are here. My guess is you found your way here because you are also on a gluten free journey. I started this blog to share my experiences in gluten free living and to hopefully help others see that this lifestyle truly can enrich lives rather than be a limitation. My family has gone completely G-free because two of my three children have Celiac Disease. This means that they have a condition which does not allow the body to safely process foods containing gluten. When gluten is ingested  by a person with Celiac Disease, the body (specifically the lower stomach and intestines) attacks itself causing damage and inflammation to the lining of the stomach and the villi in the intestines thus interfering with the body's digestive system and ability to absorb nutrients. Gluten is found in wheat rye, barley and oats (and spelt, a form of wheat).
My g-free journey began when my husband and I finally found the answer to why our sweet 2 year old Taylor was so sick for about a month. She had so many different symptoms with no easy connection between them. She was having difficulty breathing, had ear infections, had a swollen and hard belly, was showing signs of fatigue, weight loss, irritabililty, lack of sleep, loss of appetite, lack of energy. Her appearance was changing dramatically and she was not acting like herself at all. We went to several different doctors several times a week for several weeks and no one knew what was going on. At one point, prior to diagnosis, she went several days where she barely ate or drank anything at all, and if she did get anything in her she would vomit within an hour or so of eating. It was terrible...very scary and very frustrating. We were desperate to find the problem so we could begin the healing process. After a multitude of tests, we were told she had Celiac Disease and that her healing would begin as soon as we eliminated all traces of gluten from her diet. We were told that there is no cure for this condition, that it would be life-long, but that as long as she maintained a strictly gluten free diet she would be completely healthy and live a normal life. We were also warned that if she did not stop eating gluten she could be faced with a whole host of health problems and potential diseases, so we would need to learn the ins and outs of this new lifestyle quickly and make it of upmost priority to avoid cross-contamination of her food. We were immediately faced with the prospects of a whole new lifestyle for the 5 of us. The task seemed daunting, but we were determined! Finding out she had Celiac's was in many ways a relief, because it was something we could do to make her better. We were no longer helpless and hoping for a solution- we had one! I read three books, two magazines, and countless websites all in one week on Celiac Disease and going gluten free. We resigned immediately that we would be a completely g-free home. We felt we needed to eliminate all possibilities of  cross-contamination so we could be sure our daughter would begin healing right away. She had lost so much weight and was so sick that we could not bare the thought of her finding a cookie left by her sisters or a crumb of bread or a cheerio and know that it would hinder her healing and cause further damage. Within a few days of discovering Taylor had Celiac Disease, we got test results back saying that our oldest daughter, Ava, had it as well. We felt that this was a huge blessing to know that she had it because she demonstrated no symptoms and we may have not known she had it until terrible damage was done.  We literally did an overhaul on our entire kitchen. We emptied the entire contents of our pantry and both of our refrigerators and freezers. We gave away all of our teflon pots and pans, non-stick bakeware, wooden and plastic spoons and utensils, cutting boards, etc. We scrubbed out every drawer, shelf, rack and corner of our kitchen, house, and car, making sure we had no gluten-containing crumbs anywhere! We researched foods, called food manufacturers, met with a nutritionist, skimmed cookbooks, shopped at ten different stores, and stocked up on things we had never heard of like "sorghum flour" and "teff grains." We began a whole new culinary life! Since this was not an option, we made the decision right away that this would be a positive, healthy and fun adventure for our family. We knew it would take some getting used to but we prayed for grace (especially for our three kids) and just went full on into it. I can honestly say this has been the most fulfilling and enriching season for our family. We have enjoyed creating new recipes and trying out new things. Every meal and snack became an opportunity to be creative and healthy. In four weeks time our 2 year old lost her swollen belly and gained over 3 pounds! She bounced back to the picture of health right away! We now consume almost no processed foods, we have eliminated most preservatives, food dyes, additives, artificial flavorings; we eat many more whole foods, more organic foods than before, and our sugar intake has been significantly reduced. We all feel so much better, have more energy, and are sleeping better! It has also spurred us on to make other positive and healthy choices in other areas of our lives. We have had much more positive come from this experience than negative, and it continues to be a source of life for us. I believe there is life and beauty in every aspect of life, and nourishing yourself is a creative and happy part of living. I hope to share that through this blog. I will be posting our experiences with different foods, recipes, pictures and ideas for healthy, gluten free meals.