Coconut Butter

8 oz. organic unsweetened coconut flakes
2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 packet Stevia
3-4 dashes of sea salt

Put ingredients in a food processor and allow to process for 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and allow to process 10 more minutes. Scrape down the sides and allow to process for 10 more minutes. Repeat this process until the coconut looks like moist sugar cookie dough. You may continue the process until the mixture begins to liquify. (If you have a Vitamix, the entire process could take as little as 5 minutes.) Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

~ I started the Paleo diet Sunday and this is one of the first recipes I tried. It is delicious! My child has a bit of an issue with the texture, but it is so nutritious that I was committed to finding a way for her to enjoy it. My solution - mix it in with a baked sweet potato! YUM. ~

GFCFSF Dairy Recipes

I was searching for a GFCFSF cream cheese recipe last night and found this site: Cassidy's Craveable Creations.

Cassidy has recipes for GFCFSF cream cheese, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, whipped cream, sour cream and much, much more.

This is the page where all of the above recipes are listed.

I hope you are as happy about these recipes as I am! There are so many recipes that I have not been able to prepare because of the presence of soy in grocery store substitutions for these items.

Thank you Cassidy!!

New Products We Love

Happy Thanksgiving 2012 Everybody!

I wanted to let you know (if you don't already) about some new products that are on the market now. Udi's® now has pizza (not CF), more bagels, and new flavors of muffins and bread, as well as muffin tops.

Daiya now has cheddar, jack, and havarti wedges in addition to their cheddar, mozzarella and pepper jack shreds. The havarti listed on the website reads "jalapeno garlic" but our local store has plain havarti wedges in stock.

And Hail Merry Macaroons are the best I've ever tasted. (The blondies are my favorite.) Can't wait to try their strawberry and caramel sea salt macaroons next. And yes, they use organic strawberries! Yum.

We hope you are able to find some of these yummy new products in your area. xo

Fabulous Find - EcoFriendly Travel Cup

THIS is my new favorite travel/sippy cup for Miss B. It is also available in dark purple (in the pic - on my computer - it appears to be blue, but it is purple). It's made for runners, but I think it's just about perfect for Miss B. (I put the carabiners in the junk drawer. Ya never know when you might need a carabiner.)

You may have already read that we've gone organic? Well, for us, that also means no more juice boxes. I read recently that some of them have tested positive for lead but the fact that they are lined with aluminum is enough for me. Same thing with broth boxes! So, I went in search of new sippy cups for Miss B since we wouldn't be purchasing the oh-so-convenient juice boxes anymore. (I confess that I am in Juicy Juice Punch withdrawal.)

What I like most about these cups, other than the fact that they are BPA free, 5% of sales of the pink cups go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the fact that they are spill-proof is that the straws are Miss B proof. They are soft! The top portion of the straw is soft and the bottom portion (the portion below the lid) is hard. Twist the top of the cap and the soft portion of the straw folds over and the lid is sealed shut.

Miss B has destroyed so many sippy cup straws. It is unreal. We have so many cups with matching lids, but no tight-fitting straws for them. I don't even want to think about how many of them contained BPA!

Miss B hasn't even tried to chew on these straws. They are kinda short when fully extended, so that may have something to do with it. :) But anyway, I found these cups at Kroger in the seasonal items area. I think they were around $8. The only downside is they are NOT dishwasher safe. I purchased two of them.

Check 'em out if you see them anywhere. If you know someone who is a straw chewer/destroyer, this might be just the thing for them.

You can order these and similar products online Here and Here.

Udi's Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread

Oh my goodness! I learned about this bread a few weeks ago from MaconMom on Twitter and recently I found out that our favorite health food store carries it.

What can I say about this bread without sounding silly and ridiculous?

This bread made me cry happy tears. I just had two small ham sandwiches for the first time in months that didn't make me reconsider sandwiches as a meal option. THIS BREAD is so soft and delicious and not spongy.

Once again, our life regains a little more normalcy. First it was Carol Fenster's recipes, and now it is this bread.

I told the clerk at the store that I would see them in a month (I purchase enough food to last a month because they are quite a distance from us) unless the Udi's bread was as good as everyone said. I told him we'd be back for more if it was (I only purchased two loaves). He laughed and said, "OK then, we'll be seeing you soon."

No doubt.

Udi's Gluten Free Products

Udi's Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread

Where to Find Udi's Products in Your Area

I also purchased a package of Udi's Lemon Streusel Muffins. We will try those tomorrow and I will post a review.

This is the best GFCF sandwich bread I have ever had. God Bless Udi and MaconMom and Yvonne's.

Better Than Boullion Organic Bases

Better Than Boullion Organic Chicken Base and Organic Beef Base are so good, so full-bodied, so cooked-all-day-long delicious, I may never go back to GFCF boullion packets again!

Better Than Boullion Try them. :)

I have seen both the chicken and beef base jars at Publix and Kroger, as well as our favorite health food store.

Here is their Frequenty Asked Questions page.

Review: Carol Fenster's 1,000 GF Recipes

After downloading individual recipes online for weeks and then later searching through the various GF and GFCF cookbooks available, as well as customer reviews, in September I decided to order Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes cookbook.

This book is as thick as a Family Bible and offers step by step instructions for delicious recipes as well as explanations of the hows and whys of GFCF ingredients and cooking.

While the cookbook is GF and not GFCF, Mrs. Fenster offers CF substitution suggestions in almost all of the recipes.

Last night I prepared the pepperoni pizza recipe. It was the first time I had ever tried to make a homemade pizza or pizza crust. It was out of this world delicious. Today I prepared her chicken fried steak with white gravy recipe. I am still in Heaven. Mrs. Fenster has single-handedly restored our household back to the delicious way it was before going GFCF. I feel like I used to when I first discovered how to make delicious Southern delicacies with my Grandmother -- excited about cooking for my family again. And, hold into your hats, I am going to make her white sandwich bread within the next couple of hours. I am not worried. I am not nervous. I believe this will be a success.

So, if you are thinking about buying a GFCF cookbook and you are confused as to which one to purchase, I wholeheartedly recommend Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten-Free recipes. It will make an excellent holiday gift for someone you know who is cooking for a GFCF household, or even for yourself if you are also GFCF.

Fabulous Find ~ Tickle Bellies

These are so cute! And there is so much more at Tickle Bellies








"Tickle Bellies is a fast growing stationery company that is becoming a top choice among stationery lovers from all across the United States and beyond. Their whimsical stationery is fun, colorful, affordable and full of happiness."

GFCF Pastas

Today I would like to take a minute and share my thoughts about GFCF pastas. I would love it if you would share your thoughts about it, too. I am not sure I have this GFCF "thing" down when it comes to pasta (or bread), to be honest.

First let me say (probably again) that I love, love, love pasta. There is hardly anything better to me than pasta simply cooked in chicken broth, or just cooked pasta tossed with butter and garlic salt. It's like bread - just add butter --> HAPPY.

The first GFCF spaghetti style pasta I tried was made from corn and I used it in a spaghetti carbonara recipe. It did not taste good and it seemed to dissolve in my mouth. Other than the dissolving thing, perhaps this pasta would be better in something like a chili-mac recipe? Corn + Chili = Yummy.

The second pasta I tried was organic brown rice pasta, in elbow macaroni style, with chicken and chicken broth. At first there was a distinct very slight bitter taste but it was gone the next day when we ate more as leftovers.

I tried the organic brown rice in spaghetti style in traditional spaghetti and it was just simply gross. I did forget to toss the spaghetti in (gfcf) margarine and garlic salt before I added it to the sauce. Maybe that is where I went wrong? A nice Italian lady told me organic brown rice pasta is the pasta her family prefers.

Lastly, I tried the rice-potato-soy pasta, spaghetti style, again in traditional spaghetti. I did toss it with gfcf margarine and garlic salt before I added it to the sauce and it was pretty darn good. Not exactly like non-gfcf pasta, but much better than corn or brown rice pasta. I found this pasta at Kroger - the brand is Bionaturae: http://www.bionaturae.com



I would love to know what you guys think about all the different gfcf pastas and combinations with different foods for different recipes that you have tried.

Fabulous Find ~ Single-Serving Bakeware

I came across these pretty little dishes while searching for covered casserole dishes to use in the oven, instead of aluminum foil packets, and in the microwave, instead of plastic. I just love that they have an "old-fashioned" look and they are small enough for single servings. The dishes and lids are oven, microwave, and dishwasher-safe. From Anchor Hocking:



You can view the entire Bake "N" Store collection here on page 5.