Taco Grilling Packets

I have been really "into" grilling packets lately. I love the ease of it, and you open the package to find meat and veggies all ready to put on your favorite taco shell. Add some guacamole, refried beans, lettuce, and tomato to a gluten-free tortilla for a delicious burrito.

And the recipe is easy!

1 lb chicken tenders
2-3 bell peppers (any color) cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped
1/2 packet gluten-free taco seasoning

In a large bowl or pan, mix the raw meat, peppers, onion, and seasonings. Put a single serving onto tin foil and fold together, then fold edges. Grill on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Serve with your favorite gluten-free taco shells or tortillas and fixings.

And the winner is ...

according to our random number generator--Lauren Brown!!!

We will your your prize to you, an i heart keenwah bag and three packages of i heart keenwah treats. They will be coming to you via snail mail. Enjoy!

A Food Allergy Article

Came across this article today about food allergies. It's a huge issue, and it is on the rise. Having a kid with six of the top eight allergies, I worry. I try not to live in fear, but I still worry that as actively as I control his diet, something will get through. Always glad to see people pushing awareness.

Gluten-free Pizza Bites

Looking for a great gluten-free meal that your kids will love AND you can take with you? We've got you covered. Make these snacks ahead, them pull them out to take along for a picnic at the park.

Gluten-free Pizza Bites

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup sweet (glutinous) rice flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/4 cup corn starch

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup milk or unsweetened almond milk

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon yeast

3.5 oz package pepperoni, cut into pieces

1/2 pound cooked and crumbled gluten-free sausage (optional)

1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

pizza sauce for dipping

Combine flours, starches, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt and mix with a wire whisk. Cut in butter by hand, with a pastry cutter, or using your food processor. In a small bowl or cup, stir yeast and sugar into the warm water. Allow to sit two or three minutes. Add the milk, pepperoni, sausage, and cheese, then stir in the yeast/sugar/water mixture. Stir together until ingredients are wet. Press into greased mini muffin pan and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until edges are lightly brown. Allow to cool before removing from pan or they will stick.

If you would like to add more "toppings" decrease the amount of other toppings you use or there won't be enough dough to make them hold together.

Ardenne Farms Gluten-free Mixes

A few weeks back at the GFAF Expo in Atlanta, I met some really nice ladies from the Ardenne Farm company and sampled their very yummy mixes. Their cookies were divine, their brownies delicious, and their cakes tasted homemade and weren't at all gritty (I was informed that they mill their own flours in a dedicated gluten-free facility to keep that from being a problem).

I've never been a big fan of mixes - my mom always made from scratch so I always did as well. But there are times when you need that convenience, so you grab a mix. When we started  cooking gluten-free, however, it got a lot harder. The mixes were expensive, and so many of them weren't all that good. You don't want to pay the money for a mix that you aren't really going to enjoy.

Well, you will enjoy these mixes. I sampled their goodies at the expo and decided if I was going to make a mix, it would be one of these. I made the chocolate chip cookies, and they didn't even last long enough for me to get a picture! My family scarfed them down like there was no tomorrow! Luckily, I grabbed a photo from their website below, and you can click it to check them out or to get some of these mixes for yourself:

I heart a giveaway!!

This week, thanks to i heart keenwah, we will be giving away three great quinoa snacks plus an adorable bag covered with even more adorable "keenwah" hearts. i heart keenwah has developed a healthy and nutritious snack that is gluten-free with all the health benefits of quinoa--an ancient grain that's more nutritious than most of the grains usually substituted for wheat.

This product is a great snack food that will hold you between meals without being filled with empty calories. It's delicious, crispy, chewy and has a simple ingredients list that you actually can pronounce! How refreshing! Our 8-year-old likes it, too. That is quite an endorsement.

We will be giving away a Cranberry Cashew, a Chocolate Sea Salt and a Ginger Peanut package of treats plus a handy bag.

Check out their website to learn more about their story and their delicious treats.

Then leave the comment, "I want to try i love keenwah!" We will announce the winner on Saturday.

Gluten-free Lemon Blueberry Cake

Nothing says summer like blueberries, so I decided to post the first recipe from our summer cookbook (coming out soon). As the title suggests, it is lemon blueberry cake. I decided to make a gluten-free version of this cake after seeing a picture of the wheat version on Pinterest. It turned out really well, and we found out something else. My father, who has never like lemon desserts, really liked this cake. We figure that what he doesn't like is imitation lemon flavor, but this is full of fresh lemony goodness (and cream cheese frosting - that always helps).

Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Cake

1 cup sweet (glutinous) rice flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup corn starch (or tapioca starch if you can't do corn)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2/3 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
Zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 3 lemons
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries (not frozen)

Combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt in a mixing bowl and mix with a wire whisk. In your mixer or with a hand mixer, blend the vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla. Add the lemons and zest. Slowly add the flour mixture. Stir in the blueberries with a spoon. Bake at 350 in two 9 inch cake pans 25-30 minutes until the edges are brown. Cool. Remove from pans and allow them to cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring
1 (one-pund ) box confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream

In a mixing bowl, mix cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add vanilla flavoring and mix. Slowly add confectioners' sugar until blended. Add small amounts of cream until the frosting is creamy, but not too thin. Cover cake in thin layer to contain any crumbs, then spread on the rest.