Hot Dog Boats!!

Another easy meal! It's especially great for kids! What you do it buy some hot dogs (Hebrew National is what I use), and slice them down the middle but DON'T cut it all the way to the bottom. Open them up and lay them on a cookie sheet. Preheat the oven to about 350 and put them in. While they are heating, make instant potatoes (just make as much as you think you'll need for how many people you're serving). Take the hot dogs out and pile a bunch of potatoes on top of each one. Next take some Processed American Cheese (like Kraft), or, if you choose, just use regular cheese - and put a thin slice on top of the potatoes. Put them back in the oven just long enough for the cheese to start melting - then serve! Yummy!

Frito Pie

Yummy! Love Frito pie! It's so simple! Buy lots of Fritos, the regular (not scoop) shape are best, but try what you want. Get the Original Stagg Chili and heat it up. When it's hot enough, pour a SMALL amount in the bottom of the bowl for each person. Next, fill each bowl as full as you'd like to with Fritos, then pour as much chili over the top of it as you want! In my opinion, if you let the bowls set for a few minutes, the Fritos soften a bit (but don't get soggy) and it makes it lots better! You can serve this with Sour Cream as well! Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

Gluten Free!!!!

Sorry I have not posted for a while, lots of stuff happened, but I'm back now! And with good news! No more expensive mayo! Best Foods Real Mayonnaise is now labeled Gluten Free! Just for those who don't know! I'll see if I can come up with another recipe now that I'm back on my feet, so hopefully that'll happen soon!

Tuna Casserole

Mmmm. Love tuna casserole. I LOVE casserole. The only problem? Most of them call for some sort of soup that I can't have. I usually don't feel like specially preparing the soup, so, I actually found something to use! Health Valley has a bunch of soups that are great! They are usually found in the health food/natural food section of the grocery store. It's in a bright yellowish-green can. It's Organic, but again, it's not too expensive! You can read the label if you'd like to make sure it's ok for you, but it basically is made up of lots of herbs. Be careful if you use this soup for any recipe! Most "normal" soup cans are about 10 3/4 oz. This one has 14.5 oz! So, I had to compensate, but it turned out wonderfully!
Also, I used a certain kind of tuna for my casserole, but any kind will do fine. I used StarKist Chunk Light Tuna in Vegetable Oil. Don't know why the Vegetable Oil kind tastes better to me, but it does. For the topping, which was supposed to be bread crumbs and butter, I improvised again. I looked up substitutes for bread crumbs and it came up as crackers. As I know from the meatloaf I made before, a substitute for crackers is potato buds (lots of substituting, but it works). Tried it, Loved it! Hope you enjoy this recipe! It's delicious and easy to make!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 can Health Valley Cream of Mushroom Soup (14.5 oz)
1 can tuna (again, I used StarKist Chunk Light Tuna in Vegetable Oil).
1/2 grated cheddar cheese (I used a little more, we are cheese lovers in this house).
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups minute rice, uncooked
1 pkg frozen peas OR 1 can of peas (I like the canned sweet peas with this recipe).
2 1/2 to 3 Tb. butter
1/2 cup potato buds


INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 1 1/2 quart (casserole) dish (grease it if it's not non-stick), mix together the milk, water, and soup. Next, stir in the tuna, cheese, salt, rice and peas. In a separate bowl melt 2 1/2 to 3 Tb. butter and mix it with the potato buds - sprinkle potato buds over top of casserole. (If you want more "breading" then feel free to double it). Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. You may want to test it before you serve it, cooking time can vary depending on what oven you have.
I had this tonight but I didn't have any peas and it still turned out great. Anyway, that's it for now, I hope it turns out delicious for you as well!

Guess What's Gluten Free?

The other day my husband bought a bunch of Yoplait Yogurt and I decided I really wanted one. Just in case, though, I thought I'd check out the ingredients again - as I always do now. Lo and behold, at the bottom of the container it said GLUTEN FREE!!!! Now, I'm not sure if they have everything labeled at this moment, but they have actually started the process. I had an Original in the flavor of Strawberry Cheesecake. It was really good. It was even better knowing it was GF!!!! WooHoo!

Blueberry Pancakes (for Dinner)

Mmmmm. I was never a fan of pancakes, but I love these ones! I get Bob's Red Mill Pancake Mix, which is usually in the health food section and make it according to the package instructions. Now there are a few options here, and you can do whichever you want. I've tried them all and they're all good!
First off is to buy a can of blueberries - OR - a can of blueberry pie filling - I found that the Comstock brand is GF. After you've mixed the pancake batter together, drain blueberry juice (if you bought just plain blueberries in a can) into a small pot and then put as many blueberries as you'd like to the pancake mix. We love l0ts and lots of blueberries! Yum! Now, when I cook the pancakes, I usually use a large spoon and flatten/spread out the batter to make it almost like a crepe. However, you can just make regular pancakes, they both work!
While you are cooking your pancakes, you can start on the syrup. Add as much pure maple syrup to the blueberry juice as you'd like to, and then heat it up. It's delicious. If you have the pie filling, you can just heat up a bunch of the filling, and you can add maple syrup to it as well if you want to.
Whether or not you use the blueberries, here are a couple more things you can do for syrup that I really enjoy. The first one is actually found on the back of the pancake mix I mentioned above. It's at the very bottom and it's made of just cinnamon and butter and sugar. Sounds weird, but it's the most delectable thing you've ever tasted! Especially if you do it right. Just a hint, when it says to soften butter-soften it, don't melt it!
The second one your can do with any kind of jam/jelly you prefer. Just scoop a couple of large spoonfuls into a small pot and add enough water and/or maple syrup to make it a thick syrup. Heat it up, and Ta Da! You have syrup!
I always make eggs, and bacon or sausage - or corned beef with the pancakes! Mmmmm.
Hope this all makes sense, I just typed this up at the last minute between my baby's bath and dinner, so, if you have any questions, feel free to email me! Thanks! I hope you enjoy it!

GF "Hawaiian" Burgers.

Mmmm. These are good for GF and Non-GF. Prepare some thick Hamburger patties and cook them - I usually use a George Foreman grill. Toast buns, if preferred. For GF, my favorite brand for bread is Kinnikinnick, they have hamburger and hot dog buns, and I really love their English Muffins, I usually use them for everything. I put mayo on the bun, then the hamburger, a bunch of the BBQ sauce, a pineapple ring (found in the canned fruit section), and usually I add a bit of shredded coconut. If you'd like to add more things (like lettuce, etc.) then try it out, if you want less, do that too. Sometimes I forgo the bun and just eat the hamburger and dip it in the sauce. Whatever you feel like. I love this recipe because it's so flexible! Happy Eating!