Pumpkin spice cake

This is a great recipe to make for the kids -- or yourself -- for Thanksgiving. It's an easy gluten - casein - soy free recipe for a pumpkin bundt cake. I have to confess that I found this on the Web at a recipe site or maybe another blog, but I've forgotten which one. If this is yours, feel free to claim credit here. I've modified it slightly. It turned out great.

Ingredients

1 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
Dash of ground cloves
1 tbsp carob or cocoa powder
3 flax eggs
1¼ cups sugar
½ cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin (Libby's is gluten free)
1 Tbsp powdered sugar (reserved for later to sprinkle over cooled cake)

Directions

In large bowl, combine flours, Xanthan Gum, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, and carob/cocoa. Mix. Set aside.

Place flax eggs (1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp water - microwave 30 secs., let sit 5 mins), sugar and oil in mixing bowl and beat until blended. Add vanilla and pumpkin, mix another minute. Add mixed dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Pour batter into 10 cup capacity Bundt Pan which has been greased. I use Spectrum organic shortening. Sprinkle pan with sugar (approximately 1 tablespoon sugar). Bake in 350° oven for up to 40 minutes, checking after 30. Turn Bundt out onto serving tray and allow to cool. Once cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Domino sugar is gluten free. Or, try a Wholesome Sweeteners product.

Forced vaccinations? What's going on in Maryland?

In case you haven't heard what's happening in Maryland, I'll repost a Christian Science Monitor Story (via CBS News) below. I don't know about you, but there's no way anyone's forcing me to give my kids vaccines. And I haven't read much about the autism families in Maryland and how they're dealing with this. So, read the article and try to imagine how much thimerosal was pumped into these kids' arms.


Maryland County Gets Tough On Vaccinations

UPPER MARLBORO, Md., Nov. 19, 2007

---

(Christian Science Monitor) This article was written by Gail Russell Chaddock.

For the parents that converged on a courthouse in Prince George's County, Md., on Saturday morning, the choice seemed clear: Vaccinate your kids or go to jail.

In fact, there are exemptions for medical or religious reasons in the state of Maryland. But few parents standing in lines that stretched down the sidewalk outside the county courthouse said they were aware of them.

Flanked by protesters and television crews, parents said they just wanted to sort out immunizations, so their kids could go back to school - and they could avoid penalties of up to 10 days in jail and $50 a day in fines.

"I've got too many children to raise to go to jail," says Remy Durham, who cares for her nephew, Lamonte Hyter, along with seven other children.

All states require that children be immunized from some childhood diseases, but the crackdown in Prince George's County has attracted international attention.

"We've had calls and e-mail from all over the country, especially the Midwest, as well as England, Germany, and Poland," says Glenn Ivey, state's attorney in Prince George's County, in a phone interview.

A lot of the uproar over the county's new approach to this issue was fueled by misinformation, he said - especially Web sites that said "we were going to start arresting people." One critic "called me a jackbooted representative of a United Nations, international pharmaceutical conspiracy," he says.

In fact, no decision has been made yet on what steps to take next, and it was never intended to scare people, he says. He's boiled his answer to critics down to one line: "It's about getting kids back in school, not to put parents in jail," he said.

By the start of the 2007 school year, more than 2,800 children in Prince George's County were not in compliance with state mandates on immunizations. The school board asked the courts to help by setting up a date for parents to either have their children vaccinated on site or provide evidence that they were in compliance with the law.

Read the rest at CBS News.

A Thanksgiving experiment

We've never cooked a real Thanksgiving meal for our kids. Without gluten or casein or soy or rice or corn -- what was left? Well, this year, we're going to try a modified meal that, if all goes well, mirrors the adult's dinner. That way, if the kids want something that's on an adult's plate, we'll have something for them. They may never know it's different. And, who knows, maybe some of the adults will want what's on the kids plates. So, I am cooking tonight and tomorrow night. I will let you know how these work out and post -- both the successes and failures. Here's the main lineup:

- Roast chicken
- Sausage stuffing
- Mashed potatoes
- Pumpkin cake
- Carrots

And if we don't connect again until later, Happy Thanksgiving.

Pizza omelet - GFCF style

In the spirit of my last post, fried potatoes, and after realizing that likely didn't satisfy your hunger for a really good new recipe, I felt obligated to offer something much better today. Thus, the pizza omelet recipe. Nothing difficult about this one. Of course, this does have eggs, the real ones. So, anyone with the dreaded egg allergy/intolerance, will avoid this recipe (like on our home). However, like in our home, even if the children can't enjoy, the adults sometimes sneak a little something for themselves. :)

Ingredients
---------------
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced fine
1/4 medium onion, diced
sliced pepperoni (or, alternatively, bacon or sausage -- see below)
sea salt
4 eggs
oil - I use canola

Now, heat a little oil in a pan. I really only use enough to coat the bottom, if that. Once hot, toss in the potatoes. In 5 mins, add the onion. In another 5 mins, add the pepperoni.

When the pepperoni starts to look cooked through, crack the eggs over the potato mix. You can make these scrambled, if desired, or keep the yolks intact. Let cook through on one side, then flip with a spatula. Season with sea salt, and if desired, pepper.

Now, this is good. It looks fun too. The pepperoni circles resemble a pizza and the yolks help that look also. Plus, it tastes great.

You can buy GFCF pepperoni at your local supermarket -- I believe Hormel makes a GF brand. Also, our local Giant Eagle started selling GF pepperoni (and it's marked with a real GF symbol now -- they finally realized there's a market for this stuff -- yeah!). Or, you can buy Wellshire Farms pizza pepperoni. If not, use an alternative, like Applegate Farms sausage, or Applegate Farms bacon. All healthy stuff -- and it tastes great. Also, remember, not all traditional breakfast foods have to be just for breakfast. This can be a good dinner too, especially if you're in need of more dinner ideas.

Fried potatoes

This is another one of those recipes that's really not a recipe. So, forgive me. It's fried potatoes. We really don't fry much anymore. When the kids were first diagnosed and I didn't know how to cook very much gfcf, we ate fried potatoes a few times a week. Now, it's really just a weekend treat. Now, through the week, my oldest -- the potato lover -- eats Dutch potatoes. Much healthier. But, they eat so little that's not healthy for them that I don't mind treats like this every so often. So, I simply peel, wash and cut up 3-4 medium potatoes -- diced fine so cooking doesn't take so long. I use canola oil (Tuscan Sun), just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Heat on medium high. Cook until golden, tossing every so often. You may toss in some chopped onion if you wish, or even chopped bacon (or fake bacon, i.e. - cut up hot dog). You'll find preservative free bacon and hot dogs out there -- Applegate Farms is one brand, Wellshire Farms is another.

Banning hormone-free labels?

Not that we can drink milk here. But, I just thought this was stupid enough to repost and share with you. Pennsylvania decided to cave to pressures from the milk industry rather than do something productive to resolve the more pressing issue of whether the hormone injections actually are being passed along to humans in milk and beef. Whadya expect from government?

USA Today
Pa. bars hormone-free milk labels

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is stopping dairies from stamping milk containers with hormone-free labels in a precedent-setting decision being closely watched by the industry.

Synthetic hormones have been used to improve milk production in cows for more than a decade. The chemical has not been detected in milk, so there is no way to test for its use, but a growing number of retailers have been selling and promoting hormone-free products in response to consumer demand.

State Agriculture Secretary Dennis C. Wolff said advertising one brand of milk as free from artificial hormones implies that competitors' milk is not safe, and it often comes with what he said is an unjustified higher price.

"It's kind of like a nuclear arms race," Wolff said. "One dairy does it and the next tries to outdo them. It's absolutely crazy."

Agricultural regulators in New Jersey and Ohio are considering following suit, the latest battle in a long-standing dispute over whether injecting cows with bovine growth hormone affects milk.

Effective Jan. 1, dairies selling milk in Pennsylvania, the nation's fifth-largest dairy state, will be banned from advertising that their product comes from cows that have never been treated with rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin.

The product, sold by St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. under the brand name Posilac, is the country's largest-selling dairy pharmaceutical. It is also known as recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH.

It has been approved for use in the U.S. since 1994, although safety concerns have spurred an increase in rBST-free product sales. The hormone is banned in the European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan, largely out of concern that it may be harmful to herd health.

Monsanto spokesman Michael Doane said the hormone-free label "implies to consumers, who may or may not be informed on these issues, that there's a health-and-safety difference between these two milks, that there's 'good' milk and 'bad' milk, and we know that's not the case."

Rick North of the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, a leading critic of the artificial growth hormone, said the Pennsylvania rules amounted to censorship.

"This is a clear example of Monsanto's influence," he said. "They're getting clobbered in the marketplace by consumers everywhere wanting rBGH-free products."

Acting on a recommendation of an advisory panel, the Pennsylvania Agriculture Department has notified 16 dairies in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts that their labels were false or misleading and had to be changed by the end of December.

"There's absolutely no way to certify whether the milk is from cattle treated or not treated" with rBST, Wolff said. "Some of the dairies that have enforced this, it's absolutely the honor system."

Rutter's Dairy Inc., a central Pennsylvania company that sells about 300,000 gallons a week, began promoting its milk as free of artificial hormones this summer. It has fired back at the state decision with full-page newspaper ads and a lobbying campaign. It is also urging customers to protest.

"We just think the consumers are more keenly aware in today's world about where their food comes from and how their food is manufactured or handled," said Rutter's President Todd Rutter.

Rutter's sells its milk at the state's minimum price, but a national spot check of prices by the American Farm Bureau last month found "rBST-free" milk typically costs about 25% more.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

GFCF and egg-free Hash browns -- McDonald's style

I hate to measure my cooking successes by how close I can replicate McDonald's foods. But, there's just a few things that I can't resist. This is one.

This hash brown recipe is another example of using one recipe in several ways. And, it's egg-free, soy-free, gluten-free and casein-free. It can be corn and rice free too with a little flour switching.

- one recipe for gfcf chicken nuggets batter

- 3-4 potatoes, shredded or diced in small pieces (your preference)

- 1/2 medium onion, shredded or diced in small pieces

Make batter according to directions and let sit 5 mins. Shred potato and onion. Mix into batter. Spoon into hot pan with 1/4 inch of oil or less. Form into shapes, if desired, using greased cookie cutters - circle, etc.

Fry on both sides until golden brown.

This was a treat last weekend. I don't think we'll do this too often due to health reasons.