These cookies are very good!  Crunchy and not at all grainy with a nice flavor.  Easily identified as a sugar cookie and not noticably GFCF in fact!  I had a hard time not snitching them from Maddie to be honest   They were, however, fairly expensive at $5,25 a box of  16 (I think) cookies.

This review will be a little different since I did not have to prepare this product.  I gave it rather low marks in the ingredient catagory because of the oats, which I believe would cause confusion and because there were a lot of

ingredients-4  some confusion due to oats and other ingredients that might be hard to identify as GFCF
taste-5 Very good tast and texture
price-3 expensive!
overall value-4 costly, but worth it for a real treat

The route we have chosen to take is making Bento meals for Maddie.  That, to us, means packing leftovers or simple protiens and nutritionally balanced meals in resuable containers. 

Generally she gets:

-leftover or simple (like rolled ham slices or a turkey leg)
-a starch such as roll, pancake, chips or crackers
-raw veggies (because she hates cooked)
-fruit
-a sweet (such as GFCF baked good, fruit leather)
-a steel bottle of juice or flavored water

This is packed in some cute containers and placed in her new lunchbox “purse”.

on the left is a container with rolled ham and baby carrots, on the top right we have orange sections and raisens and on the bottom right there is dessert of three Lucy’s sugar cookies and two marshmallows.

I pack by placing the large box flat on the bottom, the two smaller ones on top and the drink bottle on the right. The ice pack will fit either under the big box or along the side (depending on what’s in the smaller boxes).

All packed and ready to go!!

Sorry no recipe this time!  I’ll try and be back later when my laptop is behaving.

I had used this mix once before for Maddie’s birthday and had less then stellar luck with it.  However, I needed to make some cupcakes for Maddie to take to her brother’s birthday party tomorrow and she insisted  on vanilla.  I have never been able to make a successful yellow/white OR vanilla GFCF cake so I figured I could take lots of time and effort and make yucky cupcakes or I could buy a box mix and do the same thing. 

It was an easy decision

The mix calls for butter, water, eggs and vanilla.  I decided to use almond extract instead of vanilla…mostly because I didn’t have an vanilla, but also because she generally prefers the taste of the almond extract.  I also subbed 1/3 C oil for the 1/2 C butter the directions called for because I didn’t ahve any GFCF margerine. 

To my surprise these came out wonderfully!  The cakes have a nice texture and taste and they baked up nice and high and pretty! Not grainy at all either!  I don’t know what I did wrong on her birthday but these were really great!  They only drawback would be that they weren’t really full of flavor…but that might be my bias against non-chocolate cake  I topped with betty crocker fudge frosting (check the label…Maddie can tolerate these frostings…your mileage may vary) and sprinkles…behold!

Final Score:

Ease of preparation-5 (very easy, no crazy ingredients)
Ingredients-5 (good quality ingredients, esily identifiable as GFCF)
Final Product-4.5 (good looking, moist, nice texture but not very flavorful)
Value-4.5 (cost is good)

Overall Score-4.75

We had Faux-mus with veggies to dip and five layer dip with tortilla chips.  It was a very satisfying and delicious dinner and completely GFCF!

What is faux-mus you might ask?  It’s our version of hummus..sans the tahini and simple to the max.  In fact it only has four ingredients!

Faux-mus Dip

ingredients:

one can chick peas, drained with liquid reserved
1/4 tsp garlic powder
drizzle olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Place chickpeas in a food processer along with a few TBSPS of the reserved liquid, the olive oil, garlic powder and salt.  Process until smooth.  If the dip needs thinning add some more liquid. 

Serve with crackers, veggies or tortilla chips to dip.

The five layer dip is just like seven layer dip without the dairy products.

5 Layer Dip

ingredients:

8 ounces Better then Sour Cream
1/2 packet of ortega taco seasoning
1/2 can refried beans (make sure it’s GFCF)
one medium tomato, chopped
green lead lettuce, chopped
one avocado, cubed

Directions:

mix the BT sour cream with the taco seasonings and set aside.  You can do that step ahead and it only adds flavor.  On a dinner plate spread in this order:  refried beans, sour cream mixture, lettuce, tomato and avocado.  Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

One of the easiest ways is to simply freeze fruit juice in ice pop molds, but I find this just doesn’t satisfy M….to her it is not a pop.  Not sweet enough maybe, or it could be the texture (which is slightly more mushy then your typical popsicle).  I would try these first because lots of kids do like them, and they are by far the easiest.

Next there is the option of freezing pureed fruit.  If you choose to do this I reccomend buying very ripe fruit (check the day old rack) and throwing it into a blender.  Canned fruit also works well. Once your pulverized the bejeezus out it, just pour it into the molds and freeze as before.  Oh, and I don’t reccoment rasberries or blackberries…too many seeds.  You may even have an issue with blueberries and strawberries if your child is particularly sensative to texture.

There is always the option of making pops from kool-aid.  These will tend to taste and look more like real ice pops but make aure the kool-aid powder is GFCF (we’ve never had a problem with it but…).  *I* also love iced tea pops.  Basically just brew your tea of choice, add sugar (or honey) to taste and freeze.  You can make either of these sugar free as well, but they will freeze hard like lollipops. 

Now to get fancy!

I found this on Recipe Goldmine…they are sooooo good!

Maraschino-Lemonade Pops

1 (10 ounce) jar maraschino cherries
1 (12 ounce) can frozen pink lemonade
    concentrate, partially thawed
1/4 cup water
8 (3 ounce) paper cups
8 wooden popsicle sticks

Put a colander or strainer in a bowl. Pour cherries into the strainer, saving the juice in the bowl. Put one whole cherry in each paper cup. Put the remaining cherries on a cutting board. With a sharp knife, carefully cut cherries into small pieces. Put chopped cherries, lemonade concentrate, water and the juice saved from the jar of cherries into the container of an electric blender or food processor. Cover blender or processor. Puree or blend until smooth.

Fill paper cups with equal amounts of cherry mixture. Freeze 30 to 40 minutes, or until very slushy. Place popsicle sticks in the center of each cup. Freeze 1 hour longer, or until firm.

To serve, peel off paper cups.

And as I promised….

GFCF ice pops:

Toffuti Totally Fudge Pops and Monkey Bars
Luigi’s Real Italian Ice
Phillyswirl Swirl Stix, Original Swirls
Twin Pops
Welches Frozen Fruit pops,  grape and assorted
Dole Fruit Bars

Today I’m listing some finger paint recipes.  Finger paint can be very useful for autistic children and many OT’s use it in therapy so even if your child doesn’t like getting their fingers dirty you may want to write a few of these down.

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As far as I know Jello is GFCF but you know the drill    We like it gooey, but not overly gelled.

Jello Finger Paint

ingredients:

1 box jello, any flavor
3 c water

Directions:

Boil water.  Add jello until a desired consistancy is achieved. 

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This dries to a very pretty, almost stained glass shine.  It is very sticky and take quite awhile to dry.

Corn Syrup Fingerpaint

ingedients:

light corn syrup
food coloring

directions:

Place corn syrup in bowl and add food coloring until you get a color you like. 

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This one is nifty because it will wash easily due to the soap.  You can make it without the soap for those who tend to eat the paint

Washable Finger Paint

ingredients:

1/3 C corn starch
1/4 C dishwashing liquid
2 TBSP corn syrup or sugar
2 C water

Directions:

Put water, corn syrup/sugar and corn starch into a pan.  Stir and heat over medium heat.  Continue stirring until it forms a gel-like consistancy.  Add dishwashing liquid.  Divide and color as desired.

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First up is play clay!  We really like clay here and it was very dissapointing to find out Maddie couldn’t use commercial clay (For those of you who don’t know, Playdoh contains wheat), and therefore neither could the rest of us

I’m going to provide you with some alternatives for your clay loving little ones. Oh, and don’t even bother trying to make a salt and flour dough using GF flour…that was one very messy and expenisve experiment! 

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This first clay was a little rough, I think because of all the salt, but that same salt made it sparkle.

CORNSTARCH CLAY
from Cooks.com

1 c. cornstarch
2 c. salt
1 1/3 c. cold water

Put salt and 2/3 c water in a pot and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch with remaining water and stir well. Blend these two mixture together and knead into clay.  Add more cornstarch if clay is too sticky.  Makes 3 cups. Mold the clay into various shapes or objects and let dry (takes several hours). You may paint them when dry. Store unused clay in a plastic bag in refrigerator.

You can add some food coloring or a kool-aid packet to color the clay. When we made this it lasted a good 3 weeks in the fridge.

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This one is a little smoother, but not nearly as sparkly

Homemade Cornstarch Clay
from Natural Family Online

Large saucepan
2 cups baking soda
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
Paints and brushes (optional)

Stir the cornstarch, baking soda and water together in the saucepan thoroughly and bring to a boil on medium to medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and continue stirring until the mixture is the texture of mashed potatoes, then cover and cool to room temperature.

The clay is now ready for play! Use it for play or make ornaments and sculptures.

Dry your clay
Allow the clay to air dry, turning the piece over every 12 hours. If your oven is capable of baking at less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit, you may choose that option, though the ornaments will be more brittle.

Make ornaments
Roll out 1/8- to ¼-inch-thick slabs of clay. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or children’s play knives. Poke holes large enough to thread a ribbon or fishing line through, using a pencil or other object. Use watercolors or other paint to decorate the clay before it dries

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This is basically a one time only clay.  It’s great for rolling out, cutting and drying but won’t stand up to repeated use.  It smells really good too! It is not, however, edible.

Cinnamon Clay

1 1/2 C cinnamon
1 C applesauce
1/3 C white glue (Elmers school glue is GFCF)

directions:

Mix all ingredients together to form a dough the consistancy of cookie dough.  Add more cinnamon if needed. 

Roll on waxed paper or use a vinyl tablecloth.  Dust surface with more cinnamon and roll to 1/8″.  Dry either in the oven on 200 degrees for several hours or at room temp for several days.

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This is great for forming figures for cakes, making sheet like coverings for cakes or just for playing.   This one you can eat (and it’s pretty darn tasty!).

Candy Clay
from ZOOM.com

ingredients:

3 C powdered sugar
1/4 C corn syrup
1/4 C GFCF margerine
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Cut margerine into chunks and place into bowl.  Add corn syrup and salt.  Mix together and add powdered sugar to form a dough.  Add more sugar if neccesary.

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Here is another edible one, but check for peanut allergies first and remember no honey for those under age 1!

Peanut Butter Playdough

ingredients:

2 C peanut butter
3 C powdered sugar
3/4 C honey

directions:

Mix all ingredients together to form a dough.  You will probably need to knead it for awhile. 

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Have fun playing with dough!  Next wil be GFCF finger paint ideas (I hope).

Thanks to chex going GF (thanks guys!!) this tastes pretty much how it’s supposed to and it makes a great party food!  I use a lot of worcesterchire sauce because I LOVE the stuff…adjust according to your own tastes. 

GFCF Chex Mix

ingredients:

4 C corn chex
4  C rice chex
1 C mixed nuts
1 TBSP worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrins is GFCF as far as I know)
1 stick GFCF margerine

Directions:

Preheat over to 250 degrees.  Melt margerine in the oven in a large shallow pan.  Add worcestershire sauce and seasoned salt and mix well.  Add chex and nuts and mix to coat.  Bake in oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Place on paper towels to cool.
1 tsp seasoned salt

Here’s the basic recipe:

Potato Candy

ingredients:

1/2 C mashed potatoes, plain (just boil them and mash them…no butter or anything)
1, 3lb bag powdered sugar (may not need the whole thing)
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix mashed potato with vanilla.  Add enough powdered sugar to make a thick dough.  Form into balls and roll in coating of choice.  Store in fridge to keep firm.

This is a very nice cookie, crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside. 

Vanillla Meringues

ingredients:

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp GFCF vanilla extract
1 1/4 C white sugar

Directions:

Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper and set the oven to 300 F.  Beat egg whites, salt, vanilla  and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.  Add the sugar a bit at a time.  At this point you can either go the rustic route and drop the batter by spoonfuls onto the lined cookie sheet OR you could pipe them into pretty little shapes using either a piping bag or a zip lock bag with the corner snipped off.  

Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned.