A Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, Flamenco Dad and I will be packing up the kids and spending the holiday with my side of the family: my mom, stepdad, grandma, and brother. The kids are looking forward to some serious turkey eating and many rides on my stepdad’s ATV. Before I start getting angry letters from folks about the safety concerns, let me assure one and all that no one rides at an excessive rate of speed, the kids always ride with a responsible adult, and Florida has some of the flattest terrain I have ever seen! You’ve heard of making a mountain out of a molehill; here we make mountains out of anthills.

So since my mother has graciously offered to host the dinner, that means the bulk of the cooking is out of my hands. That can be good and bad: good, because my mom is a good cook (so you know the food will taste good) and also because that means less prep work for me; bad, because I don’t always know what is going to be on her table until I get there. Mom doesn’t put butter on anything, so Zoe’s safe there. And Mom doesn’t stuff the bird…also safe. Not only that, but there is usually some variety of rice and/or salad that is GFCF. Awesome. But other than that, the ingredients of the other foods at the table present challenges for Zoe, so one must always arrived prepared.

And that’s where I’m hoping you come in.

I am in need of some inspiration! I figure it would be a good idea to bring a side dish and a dessert item that I know are Zoe-friendly. So tell me: what GFCF goodies are you putting on your Thanksgiving table? Please leave your comments here, or send me a note at flamencomom [at] gmail [dot] com.

P.S. Your suggestions will come in especially handy in the coming weeks. Here at Casa Flamenco, we are not only hosting Christmas Eve, but we may be having a graduation party here at my house this month as well! Yes, that is my not-so-subtle way of saying the end of school is in sight; but also I haven’t decided on whether to just go out to lunch with my family after the graduation ceremony, or if a larger celebration is in order.

Is This Normal?

There may be something wrong with me: I have developed an unnatural attachment to a gift  my very special Santa gave to me. Behold, the shoes:

You can’t hear me, but I’m squealing with delight over here. Cue the girly giggle noises! I know that they don’t look like the most practical shoes in the world, but they’re remarkably comfortable; and as a bonus, they make my giant canoe feet look dainty and feminine. Sweet! I also received this, which makes my hair smell good enough to eat. I’d say that I was a pretty girl girl this year, because Santa really hooked me up.

The Aftermath

After the Demo Team Got to It

I knew that my gingerbread house would be torn down eventually, but I was still really sad to see it in a heaping pile of rubble on my coffee table. My husband and the kids took turns poking at it with the wooden spoons in the picture until all that was left was the mess in the photo. The good news is that this experiment in edible construction has given rise to a new family tradition: the annual Build-A-Gingerbread-House-From-Scratch-Then-Tear-It-Down-athon. My niece Lisa made me swear that I would build one every year so that the family could bask in the glory of tearing it down on Christmas Eve. I guess you could say the house was a hit!

Mmm, cookies...

And my husband thought it was most delicious!

Merry Christmas, Achoo!!

Merry Christmas from the Flamenco Family

What do obscene amounts of food, wrapping paper “snowball” fights, 103 degree fevers, gingerbread house demolition, and too much sangria have in common? Well, they were all part of our Christmas this year. Oh did I neglect to mention that my daughter is WAY sick? And that my little guy is slowly following in his sister’s stead? Yup, it’s humidifier and Kleenex city in my house this week. Sigh.

In other news, Santa was really good to me this year; to all of us, really. We’re blessed to have been able to spend the holiday with our loved ones (boogers and all), and that all of us are happy, healthy (mostly), and safe. I’ll put up a few photos of my Christmas booty and the demolition of my beautiful gingerbread house. It brought a tear to my eye to see that thing come down, but the gang seemed to have fun playing wrecking crew with it.

Project Ginger

Phase I: Planning and Baking

So over the weekend I started thinking about things I could do with the kids during the Christmas break, things that would keep them from trying to hunt around the house in search of presents. Then I had an idea: how about we make a gingerbread house? Since we had to make the house GFCF I was unable to grab one of those nifty kits available at Michael’s or Target, so I went on the hunt for a suitable recipe.

 I found one thanks to the Christmas cookie roundup I saw on Ginger Lemon Girl. Only Sometimes Clever posted a big-batch gingerbread cookie recipe that is not only GFCF, but also suitable for gingerbread houses. After looking over the recipe and heading over to Bob Vila’s for a template, we got to work.

Phase II: Construction

Karen Joy was not kidding: this recipe makes a LARGE batch of cookie dough. I used about half of it to make the pieces for the gingerbread house. I baked the pieces last night, and today the kids and I got to work on the royal icing and decorating. This was a great project; it does take quite a bit of time, so if you’re thinking about taking this on, allot yourself enough time to get it done. Zoe and Ayden were beyond excited about decorating the gingerbread house, and they can’t wait to show the finished product to our family at our dinner party tomorrow night. Now the kids are looking forward to tearing it apart on Christmas Eve!

Phase III: Decoration

Ready to Eat..

Pumpkin Carving

God bless him, Flamenco Dad spared me from the icky task of carving the pumpkins this year. Last year, he carved the pumkins with the kids. FD was SO good at it that I saw an opportunity to delegate: “Hey honey, why don’t we make YOU the official pumpkin decorator? You’re so great at it, and the kids really love when you did it last year?” Having sufficiently appealed to his ego, he agreed. Hooray!

What a job he did! The jack o’lanterns turned out wonderful. Well, except for the fact that they are already rotting. They are now sitting in my back yard, scaring the squirrels and birds away. Tomorrow we’ll cut up the pumkins and feed them to the critters living in the trees behind my house.

Back In Town

We’re back from our vacation, and what a wonderful vacation it was. Once I get around to uploading the photos, I’ll be sure to share a few pictures. We had a blast, and I’m sorry the trip had to end…but alas, it’s time to get back to the real world.

Oh yeah, and there should be some cooking going on on this blog, right? Today I picked up a package of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread Mix (wow, that was a mouthful) to try out. The kids will be home from school soon, and I can’t think of a better thing to come home to than the smell of fresh baked goodness.

This weekend we’re hitting the pumpkin patch and the costume shop. Halloween is just a week away, and this slacker has yet to look for costumes for Ayden and Zoe. Party City here we come!

I’m thinking of making this picture my new profile picture. Thoughts?

Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and that Santa was good to you. Our family had a terrific Christmas; lots of parties, good food, and great company. On Christmas Eve we went to a get-together with Flamenco Dad’s siblings and their respective spouses/significant others, our nieces, and my MIL. I showed up with the Amariette cookies, which were a big hit with the family. I also made some chocolate chip and sugar cookies, which the kids promptly gobbled up.

Getting the kids together with my MIL just to take this photo was a bit of work! Keep in mind that kids LOVE making silly faces whenever a camera is waved in front of them. And this motley bunch of kids is no exception. But we’re pretty happy with the results (though Ayden, the only boy in the group, could not be cajoled into looking directly at the camera) –and grandma now has a recent picture of her with her grandbabies to display at home and at the office.

Christmas Day we went to the home of Flamenco Dad’s aunt and uncle, where we and a bunch of our relatives got our party on. One thing I love about marrying into a big family is the parties! It’s very reminiscent of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” only with Puerto Rican food and Salsa music blaring in the background. Dad and Zoe performed a few Christmas songs together; and I even got in on the performing this time, dancing some flamenco for the guests. We stayed up quite late and the kids were exhausted afterwards, but it was a wonderful end to a great Christmas.

Cookie Party

My little friend in the photo looks like he’s deep in thought, busy pondering which cookie to eat first. Even though less than 2 weeks ago I proclaimed that I was placing a moratorium on baking cookies for Christmas, the kitchen was calling me; thus I donned my apron and got busy. The cookies in the first photo are the lovely and oh-so-simple peanut butter cookies that Shauna Ahern (aka the Gluten-Free Girl) posted last year. You can have a gander at that recipe here.

Now these lovelies here are from a recipe shared by the uber-talented Dawn. I became acquainted with her through a forum for stay-at-home moms. Dawn is a FABULOUS cook; her authentic Italian recipes make me miss all the great Italian food I had the pleasure of eating growing up in Brooklyn. Her recipes are not all gfcf, but these cookies are. These delicious almond cookies have earned a place among my favorite Christmas cookies. Zoe took some to school to share with her teachers and classmates, and everyone loved them. Eager to share the recipe, I asked Dawn if I could post it here, and she happily obliged. Thank you!

Amariette Cookies
recipe courtesy of Dawn

7 egg whites
2 1/2 cups white sugar (Superfine sugar, or process regular sugar in your food processer till its really fine.)
2 pounds ground almonds
2 tablespoons almond extract
1 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Beat egg whites and sugar until fluffy. Add the ground almond and almond extract, mixing well. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, roll in sugar and put a piece of almond or candied cherry on top.
(I use the candied cherries) Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees F) until firm. Bottom should be light brown.

P.S. I know that most of the county is either buried in snow and/or slush, or is just plain freezin’. The greenery in the background of my photos may make you long for warmer climes. Please know I’m sending warm thoughts, and hopefully sunny skies, your way.

Getting Into the Spirit

We’ve been celebrating the successful completion of the semester, which means yours truly hasn’t had too much time for cooking or blogging. I got straight A’s, internets! This overachiever is glad school’s over for now; I’ve got a few weeks off before the new term starts on January 7.

I baked a gfcf chocolate cake for the family to enjoy this weekend (thank you Bob’s Red Mill for making my life easier). Though I’m not a huge fan of cake mixes in general–I am more of a do-it-yourself type–sometimes a little help from some gluten-free friends does the trick. The cake was simply decorated with a dusting of sugar. We got our chocolate fix and the kids got to help, which they love to do.

We attended a going away party for a buddy of ours who is moving to Seattle at the end of the month. Our friend Justin has played with Flamenco Dad in the past; and to celebrate the start of a new chapter in his life, everyone was invited over to jam. Zoe, who is nothing if not a ham (gee, I wonder where she got her love of performing?), gleefully offered to sing a tune for all the party guests. And since it’s Christmastime, she picked a favorite.