A Little Homesick

I a little homesick right now so that's what brought on tonight's dinner. Eric and I weren't able to make it to St. Louis for Christmas and I was feeling a little down about it. My solution was to make a casserole that my mom made a lot when I was growing up and then really never when I was home after finding out about my celiac. I took me a while to figure out how to convert it to being gf and isn't as cheap as it is when it is all gluteny. It is still pretty budget friendly especially if you make your own cream of mushroom soup.

Wasetti
1 lb hamburger (2 lbs if omitting sausage)
1 lb of pork sausage (I used Italian)
1 bell pepper any color chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 can tomato sauce
1 small (teeny tiny) can of tomato paste
1 cup cream of mushroom soup or 1 can (I'm sneaky and will thaw a bit and pour it into a can to measure)
1/2 bag of Heartland's fusli noodles or more just till it looks like enough
cheddar cheese shredded
salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste
Preheat oven to 350 F. Brown the hamburger, sausage, peppers, onions, and garlic together, drain. Meanwhile cook the pasta. Combine in casserole dish or dutch oven. Pour soup, tomato sauce and paste  over and mix together. Cover with cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is gold and bubbly.

Eric liked it, and so did I. I put hot sauce on mine and he put taco sauce on his. Apparently even with a measurement that says to taste I still am off a bit. I made a salad to go with it, not what my mom normally makes but it was still good.
Oh before you ask I have tried nearly every gf cream of mushroom soup recipe out there and all are good. Now you could be super lazy or really rushed and used the canned stuff (make sure it's gf!) but it won't be as cheap.

Mint Cookies

I told Eric a couple of weeks ago that he needed to tell me what Christmas cookies he wanted. He wanted to be difficult he said he wanted peppermint sugar cookies shaped like snowflakes with blue and white snowflakes. Well I did my best and all I could find was a basic sugar cookie recipe that I added crushed up candy canes. Then not two days ago a friend emailed me a mint cookie recipe that is gluten free without even trying! I made them yesterday.
1/4 cup light corn syrup (I used Karo white syrup)
1 tsp gluten free peppermint extract
1/4 cup butter softened
4 3/4 cups powdered sugar (one pound box)
food coloring (optional)
Mix the syrup, butter, and peppermint together in a bowl. Slowly add the sugar till it's mixed well and then add food coloring if you want to till you get the color you want.
Roll into balls and place onto wax paper and flatten out. Refrigerate for a few hours and then let stand at room temperature for several days. Then keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

I made these yesterday. The taste is amazing however I can't get them to set up. They are really doughy. I think I may put them back in the fridge to see if that helps.

Awesomesauce Sesame Street!

Yes I did type awesomesauce. :)
Hey there! I have really exciting news for families with little kids that are eating on a budget! Sesame street has started a program to encourage healthy eating. They are introducing some new Muppets, and they are introducing a kit to go with this endeavor. Also it encourages families to try new healthy foods. So if you have that *SUPER* picky preschooler this sounds perfect.
 Find out More!

Chex Mix and Chicken Soup

I have the most horrible cold right now. I  think I getting over it though because I am starving and I haven't been this entire time I've been sick.
So today I made two things Cranberry nut Chex Mix (yummy)
And Chicken Soup (don't know yet it's still in the crock cooking)
the Chex Mix is here
and the soup is here
Thanksgiving is at my parents, we've been told not to bring anything except ourselves and the kitten.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Pie Crust

I love to make pie, and it just so happens that my husband loves pie and can't tell any difference between gluten free pie and regular pie. So this time of year I indulge this love of pie and make his favorites. I make pumpkin (on sale at ALDI'S) and pecan (little more than I like to spend but I only make it twice a year once for the holidays and then again for Eric's birthday).
A good gluten free pie crust  makes all the difference in the taste of your pie. I stumbled upon this while experimenting with gf dough, and it makes a perfect crust.
1 1/2 cups of Pamela's Baking Mix
1/4 cup shortening (maybe more till you get the consistency you want)
5 tablespoons water (once again maybe more I took the advice of America's test kitchen and added vodka something to do with getting moist without getting soggy)
Mix all of these together in a pie pan. Adding ingredients slowly until you get the consistency you want. There is no need to prebake unless you really want to. If you are making a fruit pie you may want to sprinkle the top with sugar or vanilla sugar (great on blackberry pie).
If  you have any tips leave them in the comments section!

Do you live in the Columbia, MO area?!

If so the Hy Vee on Conley has some awesome gluten free events coming up. There is a Holiday Dinner Nov 16 that is completely gluten free. Also there is a gluten free cookie exchange on December 14 that costs $5/ person.  Both sound awesome and I really want to get off work to go to both of them. Conley Hy Vee has more info, also look into getting that particular Hy Vee newsletter they do a lot of gf events and have gf recpies in the newsletter.
Hope to see you there!

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

So I felt bad for not posting a recipe yesterday. I'll post one now. It had never occurred to me that there were people that didn't know how to make loaded mashed potatoes. Well here you go.
Loaded Mashed Potatoes
6 potatoes
cooked bacon (I think I used 6 slices)
green onion chopped (I used 3)
about 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
a sprinkle of garlic
pepper
milk
butter
Cook the potatoes and mash them along with a little milk and a tiny amount of butter. Then mix everything else in. Then make your husband think it took forever (okay not really but he was napping).